


Playing with Fire

by mallaidh



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: AU, Action/Adventure, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Elemental Magic, Humor, M/M, Slow Build, Urban Fantasy, eren is 19 in this fic !!, honestly i don't even know what this fic is lmao, idk how to tag this, is this even classified as urban fantasy ?? i have no idea, some fun magical mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2018-07-29 02:26:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7666720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mallaidh/pseuds/mallaidh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"Wait, you're putting him in the trunk?"</i>
</p>
<p>  <i>"Why would I shove this pathetic bleeding fucker into my perfectly nice car and destroy the upholstery?"</i><br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's been quite a while since I've written anything for attack on titan, and so I'm quite nervous to post this? I'm not sure what the feedback is going to be like and stuff, but I thought I'd post and see how it goes! 
> 
> This is kind of based of the skulduggery pleasant books by derek landy btw, because i genuinely can't write anything other than AU'S! ! 
> 
> I hope you like it, and I'd love it if you could drop me a comment and tell me what you thinK!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been quite a while since I've written anything for attack on titan, and so I'm quite nervous to post this? I'm not sure what the feedback is going to be like and stuff, but I thought I'd post and see how it goes!
> 
> This is kind of based off the skulduggery pleasant books by derek landy btw, because i genuinely can't write anything other than AU'S! !
> 
> I hope you like it, and I'd love it if you could drop me a comment and tell me what you think!

Eren Jaeger became an orphan on a Tuesday afternoon.

His father's funeral was held three days later, on a Friday morning. The day didn't seem suited to a funeral; the sky was clear and the air was crisp. The sun beat down on the back of Eren's neck in the graveyard. By the time the coffin containing what was left of his father thumped to the bottom of the grave, the back of Eren's white dress shirt was damp from sweat. _It should be raining_ , Eren thought. The world shouldn't look so beautiful in the face of Eren's inner turmoil.

His two best friends stood by his side as he tossed the first handful of earth into the grave. The clumps of dirt hit the polished wood with a dull hollow sound. He stood back then, and watched wordlessly as the rest of the pit was filled and the coffin was obscured by the freshly turned earth. Mikasa and Armin slipped their hands into his and held on tight.

An orphan at nineteen. It was a difficult concept to grasp - not because it was complicated or hard to understand, but it was unpleasant to think that such a thing had happened to himself. A mother and a father, both dead and gone within eight years of each other. Both with almost identical causes of death.

"You okay?" Mikasa asked lowly. She gave his hand a squeeze that was probably supposed to be light and comforting, but ended up nearly crushing his fingers. She never had fully comprehended her strength.

Eren nodded slowly. When his mother had died, he'd been damn near inconsolable, wailing and sobbing and kicking. Now, he hadn't shed a tear. His eyes were completely dry, and it was like he was empty inside. He couldn't bring himself to cry. He'd never been terribly close to his father, particularly after his mom died, but the fact that he was _gone_ left a strange pang in Eren's chest.

"We're here for you, Eren." Armin whispered softly. It was nice to be reminded that he wasn't alone.

* * *

Grisha Jaeger had been a doctor before he had died, and had apparently invested a healthy sum into a life assurance policy. The money would be helpful, if Eren knew what to do with it. He had been left two houses, as well; the family house, and their holiday home in the forest a few miles out of town. Eren had enough to live in comfort for a long while. That thought did nothing to reassure him.

Mikasa and Armin had been kind enough to drive him to the second home, even though it was well out of the way of their own routes. The car ride was filled with failed attempts to drag Eren into conversation, and when that failed, awkwardly forced jokes. Eren did his best to smile and act as normal as possible, but his mind was preoccupied and he often lapsed into silence without realising it. He wasn't acting like himself at all, he realised that, but he was so busy thinking about what he was going to do now that he was on his own. Well, he wasn't _alone_ , as he remembered every time he looked up and met Mikasa's worried eyes in the rearview mirror. But even with the presence of Armin and Mikasa, he felt like he was hollow inside.

"We're here!" Armin announced in a faux-cheerful voice.

Startled, Eren looked out the window to see that, sure enough, they were driving up the gritty driveway leading up to the house. He hadn't even noticed they were getting so close. The house loomed over them as the car approached, huge and old and imposing against the dull sky. Gothic in design, with arched windows and wide doors, Eren wondered why his parents had ever thought it was a good idea to buy the house. His mother had always preferred bright and pretty things, and this house was anything but. Trees surrounded the building and the driveway like a tall, leafy cage - Eren felt claustrophobic just looking at the foliage blocking the sky.

"Wow." Armin murmured, entranced by the appearance of the place. "It's beautiful."

"You think so?" Eren asked, sceptical. He couldn't see any beauty about the place. It looked like an old, haunted house from some low budget horror flick.

"You don't?" Armin countered, climbing out of the front seat and opening the back door for Eren. He gazed around as Eren got out and stood beside him. "The trees are really something, too. It's like a huge fairy ring from those old stories your mom used to tell us!"

Eren hadn't thought about it like that at all - the dense trees surrounding them just felt like a prison. Instead of saying this to Armin, he reached into the car and grabbed his overnight bag. "Come on, let's go inside."  
They walked up the stone steps leading to the house and stopped at the front door. Eren fumbled with the keys for a second before unlocking the door and stepping over the threshold, lugging his bag behind him.

It had been close to six years since he'd been to this house, and yet not a thing had changed. The front hall still looked the same, dark and wide with tall pillars and gothic paintings along the walls. A thick layer of dust was the only difference to the place.

"Wow." Armin stepped in after Eren and glanced around the place, eyes wide. Mikasa followed, looking less awestruck. She had been to the house before when they were just kids, for a sleepover. Still, she looked impressed as she gave the place a once-over.

"Kitchen is this way." Eren murmured, leading the way down the long hall to the third door on the left. The kitchen was large and cold, but the layout was familiar and unchanged. He sighed as he set his bag down by the kitchen table, breathing in the stale scent of the previous family breakfasts that had been cooked in the room.

"Eren." Mikasa watched him closely as he dragged a chair out from the kitchen table and sat down heavily. "Are you sure you don't want one of us to stay here with you tonight?"

"Yeah." Eren smiled at her; a genuine smile, not one of the weak lip twitches he had barely been able to manage over the last couple of weeks since his fathers death. "I'll be fine. I just need some time to myself. A few days here will be good for me, honest."

Mikasa had always been perceptive to other people's moods and feelings, and Eren was no different. Her cool gray eyes observed him for a long moment, and then she nodded. "Okay. I stocked the fridge with vegetables and meat, but there's frozen pizzas there too if you don't feel like cooking. We can visit you on Saturday." _and see how you're holding up_. The last bit went unsaid, but Eren could see it in Mikasa's eyes.

"Great." Eren nodded, scratching his elbow. "Yeah, okay."

His friends stayed for another hour or two, lazing around and joking. By the time they were leaving, Eren found himself in a far better mood than he had been in for a while. He stood in the doorway and waved to them as they reversed out the driveway, and then watched as they drove away. He stayed on the porch for another couple of moments after the car had been swallowed up by the trees, just thinking to himself.  
It had been his idea to spend a few days by himself at his parents' holiday house (it didn't seem right to think of it as his own), and Armin and Mikasa had agreed that it might do him some good. The stress and pressure of organising the funeral and his father's will and all the deeds and paperwork had taken its toll on Eren, and he was fully prepared for a break. Even if the break was to this old house that hadn't been inhabited properly for years; it would need some fixing up. Nothing too drastic, but enough odd jobs to keep Eren busy and distracted.

He returned inside when he realised that his arms had broken out in goosebumps from the cold air. After closing the front door and bolting it shut, he decided to take a quick walk around the house in order to see what would need to be fixed up. Most of the rooms were in good condition, with thick layers of dust being the only indicator that the house had been empty for a while.  
The stairs creaked loudly when he put his weight on them, but Eren figured there was nothing he could do about that; it was an old house, after all. He couldn't remember _how_ old, exactly, but he remembered his father telling him when they bought it that it had been built over a century ago.

There were gothic paintings hung on most of the walls throughout the house, depicting various scenes from several different religious texts. Eren didn't like them very much; they freaked him out. The room his father used to use as a study was filled with bookshelves, and Eren ran his fingers along the spines of the books as he eyed the titles. They seemed to be almost exclusively horror stories, which was strange - Eren hadn't known his dad had liked horror stories.

-

The next day, Eren started his work on the house by dusting and sweeping. Huge clouds of grey dust billowed throughout the rooms and the halls, and Eren was forced to throw open as many windows as possible to avoid suffocating. It took the guts of four hours to get the place sufficiently dusted, and by the end of it Eren's muscles and throat ached. After that, he set about fixing the heating system; he was no handyman, but he knew enough about fixing-up houses for him to be reasonably confident about doing it himself. The house was so cold that Eren was pretty sure his balls had shrivelled up and possibly disappeared, so getting the boiler fixed was at the top of his priority list.

On Day Two, Eren oiled the hinges of every door and window in the house to prevent them squeaking, and tore up the floor in one of the guest bedrooms. The wood had rotted, and was in danger of collapsing in. There were spare boards in the garage, so Eren had nailed them over the hole and made a note to buy new floorboards next time he was in town. He stuck the note on the fridge so he wouldn't forget.

Day Three, and Eren cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom and replaced the hinges in any cupboard that needed them. He took down several of the creepier paintings in the hallway and left it leaning against the door leading down to the basement. He'd ask Mikasa to bring the paintings down when she visited; Eren hated going to the basement on his own.

On Day Four, Eren took a break. His body ached from all the manual labour, and he found himself lazing around outside for most of the day. The surrounding trees still made him feel confined and uncomfortable, but he found he didn't hate them as much as he had at the start. They had their own beauty, and it was calming to lie on the porch and listen the leaves rustle in the wind as the sunlight filtered through and turned everything green. It felt like he was in another world, everything tinged green and the sky blocked out by branches and leaves. It was... nice.

He returned back inside when it started to get dark, and put on the frozen pizza Mikasa had left with him. He ate it on the couch in the sitting room while watching cartoons on the recently hooked-up TV set. His cell phone balanced on the arm of the chair in case Mikasa or Armin decided to call and check in on him; they had done so once or twice in the four days he had been at the house, but they understood that he needed his space for the moment and were willing to give it to him. His friends were amazing, and always there to understand and comfort him, even when he was being unreasonable. Eren wasn't stupid; he knew that he could be a difficult person to get along with, considering his recklessness and stubbornness, but he stuck by his friends and would be willing to do anything for them. And they'd do the same for him, he was sure of it.

A shrill ringtone broke through Eren's thoughts and caused him to jump in surprise. He fumbled for his phone, only to pause and frown at the black screen - it wasn't his phone that was ringing. Confused, he raised his head and looked around, trying to locate the source of the ringing. His heartbeat increased, but he tried to beat down whatever fear he felt as he stood up and edged towards the hall. The ringing was louder out there, and Eren shuffled down towards the front hall, shivering in the cold air - the large house was impossible to heat, and he was wearing only a thin t-shirt and boxer shorts.

There was landline phone sitting on the cabinet in the front hall, by the stairs. Eren blinked at it, bewildered; it was ringing. Eren hadn't even realised the house had a landline, never mind one that was actually _connected_. Instead of answering it, he just watched it ring. It stopped after another ten seconds or so and Eren relaxed. He hadn't realised how tense he had gotten, and his shoulders slumped forwards slightly. He turned around to go back to the warmer sitting room but he had barely gotten a few steps away before the phone started ringing again.

"Ah." Eren turned back around and eyed the phone apprehensively. This was technically his house, right? So that meant the phone was his now, too. So it was his responsibility to answer his own phone. Shit. His fingers lingered over the phone, before he took a deep breath and snatched it out of the cradle and held it to his ear. "Hello?" Silence. Except, not quite; if Eren strained his ears, he could make out heavy breathing. "Hello?"

_"Who is this?"_ The voice was male, deep and rough. He sounded both surprised and irritated, as though he hadn't expected anyone to pick up the phone.

"Who's _this_?" Eren returned, feeling a prickle of unease run down his neck. "You rang my phone."

_"Your phone? What are you doing in that house?"_

Eren paused, startled. "I- excuse me?" Anger began to build up in his gut, and he glared at the phone in his hand. "I _own_ this house. What do you want?"

_"Where's the key?"_

"What key?" He felt like he was very quickly losing any semblance of control of the conversation. "What are you talking about? Who is this?"

_"Look, you seem like a nice kid. I don't know how you came to be in that house, but I've got a deal for you; if you give me the key, I'll let you walk away without a scratch."_

He was shaking; the phone trembled in his grasp, and tears pricked at his eyes. "I don't- I don't have a key, I don't know what you're-"

_"Listen to me."_ the man's voice sounded like breaking glass now, and he was practically snarling the words over the phone. _"Give me the key or I swear, I'll break your skinny little neck-"_

Eren slammed the phone back down on the cradle and backed away, gasping. "What the _fuck_ -?" He choked, staggering into the wall and leaning against it. Several deep, deep breaths later, he was composed enough to stumble back to the living room and collapse on the couch. He drew the comforter around him tightly, sinking into the couch. His cell phone sat benignly on the arm of the chair, where he had left it, and he stared at it for a long moment as he contemplated phoning Mikasa. It probably wouldn't be a good idea, he finally decided. She'd freak out, and it would be over nothing.

Should he phone the police? The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a bad idea. After all, nothing had happened. It could have been a prank call or something. Eren had been pretty highly strung for the past couple of weeks, so maybe he had exaggerated the man's words and tone of voice in his head.  
_Yeah_ , he thought, burrowing into the couch. _It was a prank call, and I overreacted._

He was just adjusting the blanket over his bare legs (he was regretting not bringing sweatpants, because the house wasn't even close to being warm enough for just boxer shorts), when the doorbell rang. The sound had him tensing, before he climbed back to his feet and padded into the front hall again. His stomach clenched slightly, but he told himself it was probably Mikasa or Armin. They weren't supposed to check in until Saturday and it was only Thursday, but it wouldn't be out of the question for them to pop by early. Still, it wouldn't be like Armin or Mikasa to just show up without telling him they'd be coming by.

It was dark in the hall, but even so Eren could see a silhouette through the pane of frosted glass beside the door. It was tall and thin and definitely not Armin or Mikasa. Eren froze, staring at the shadow, before opening his mouth. The only sound that came out was a pathetic little choking wheeze, so he swallowed and tried again. "Who's there?"

"Open the door." It was the man from the phone.

"Go away!" Eren shouted, backing up. "What the fuck are you doing?!"

Several loud knocks landed on the door, hard enough for the wood to rattle in the doorframe. "We were having such a nice conversation earlier, it would have been a shame to leave it where it left off."

Eren turned and ran back to the living room. He was seriously regretting coming to stay at this godforsaken house for a few days on his own, but how the fuck was he supposed to know some fucking weirdo was going to show up and harass him? He grabbed his phone off the couch before promptly tripping and landing right on his face. He yelped and the phone flew out of his hand, and he scrambled to grab it again.

There was a knock on the window, but Eren didn't turn around; he knew what he'd see, after all. And sure enough, when the man shouted out his voice came from the direction of the window. "Just give me the fucking key, and all this'll be over. I didn't come here just to scare the shit out of some fifteen year old kid." His words were slightly muffled through the glass, but Eren could hear them loud and clear.

"I'm nineteen!" Of all the fucking things to come out of Eren's mouth in a situation like this, he had to correct the crazy guy outside his window because he got his age wrong.

There was a long pause. "Really?"

"I called the police." Eren lied, turning around and raising his phone in the air. He could see the vague outline of the man outside he window, but it was too dark to see any true features. "They're on their way."

"You're a terrible liar."

"I'm not lying!" Eren's voice cracked. His face was wet, and when he blinked he realised that he was crying.

"You'd better be fucking lying, because by the time they get here I'll have broken in and wrung your pretty little neck."

A sob tore through Eren's chest, and he backed into the living room wall. He was trembling violently and shaking his head. "Leave me alone, fucker!" He screamed then, loud and shrill as the window shattered and the man climbed through.

The man was wearing a long coat and heavy boots that crunched the glass underneath them when he took a step forward. He was average looking, with fair hair and dark eyes that surveyed the room with a mocking grin. "Nice place." he said, teasing now.

Eren scrambled for the door. He had barely taken four steps out into the hallway before there were hands around his arms and shoulders and he was being thrown to the ground. He yelled in pain and tried to roll away, but a heavy boot came down and pressed on his sternum to keep him still. "Fuck-" he wheezed, clawing at the man's legs. "I don't-"

"The key." The man said firmly. "Where is it?"

"I don't have a key!" Eren screeched, smacking the boot as it became difficult to breathe.

"Bullshit!" The man shouted back, pressing down harder. "You're his son, aren't you? You're Grisha Jaeger's son!"

Eren heart constricted in his chest at the mention of his father. "What the hell does my dad have to do with-?"

The boot was taken off Eren's chest quite abruptly, but before he could enjoy his new freedom to breathe, the man dropped down to straddle Eren's stomach and grabbed him by the throat. "I will crush your windpipe in my bare fucking hands if you don't give me the location of-"

The front door flew off its hinges and hit the floor with a bang like a gunshot. The grip on Eren's neck loosened enough for him to turn his head towards the door, just in time to see another stranger step over the threshold of the house. Eren whimpered desperately, praying that this stranger was here to help him rather than assist in his murder - he didn't want to die before his twentieth birthday. He didn't want to die _at all_.

It was too dark in the hallway to properly see the new arrival, but it was light enough to see that whoever it was, he was short and slim in stature. He stepped through the splintered doorframe, and Eren could feel him surveying the scene before him. "Am I interrupting?"

It was phrased as a genuine question, and seemed so bizarrely out of place that Eren's mouth dropped open.

The man on top of Eren had frozen at the sight of the new stranger, and Eren took advantage of his momentary weakness. He thrashed his hips up, taking the man by surprise and knocking him off. Gasping, Eren struggled to crawl away only to be grabbed by the ankle and dragged back. Kicking out, he managed to kick the guy right in the nose, rewarding himself with a satisfying _crunch_ and a sore foot. He pushed himself to his feet and ran to the door, before remembering there was another stranger blocking the way and skidding to a stop. "Fuck-"

"Move." was all the new arrival said, and Eren ducked in time to avoid the bullet that went over his head as the man fucking _shot the gun he had just pulled out of his pocket_. It missed the man that had attacked Eren by centimetres and tore up the floorboards. Eren nearly protested at the destruction, but he managed to choke it back - he had a funny feeling that it wouldn't be appreciated.

The short man stepped forward and shoved Eren behind him in the same movement, ignoring the way Eren tripped and fell on his ass. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" He demanded, training the gun on the other stranger. A guttural laugh was the only response, and he cocked his gun. "Answer the fucking questions."

"I know you." The other guy snapped, spitting to the side in disgust. He sneered up at the short man.

"That's fucking great. Answer the questions."

"H-he was looking for a key." Eren whispered weakly. His voice was shaky, and his throat burned as he forced the words out.

It was loud enough for the dark-haired man to hear, because he tilted his head slightly in acknowledgment. "That so?" He opened his mouth to say more, but in the next instant the other man had jumped to his feet in a movement so fast Eren nearly missed it. He lunged towards Eren and the short man, clicking his fingers and-

Eren blinked hard, because he was sure his eyesight was defective all of a sudden. The man had clicked his fingers and what looked like _fire_ was dancing around his fingertips. He drew his arm back and lobbed the fireball - Eren was sure now that was what it was, it was definitely a solid ball of fire hurtling through the air towards the short stranger. "Look out!"

The dark-haired stranger dodged gracefully, and clicked his own fingers in return. A flame flared up and grew until it was a ball of fire in his palm, and then he threw his own flame. The other stranger was not as fast as the short man, and didn't dodge in time. His clothes went up in flame, and the fire licked at his skin and hair.

And then he threw his head back and _laughed_. "It tickles." His skin should have been burning and melting, but it was completely unscathed - other than the fact that he was engulfed in flames.

"This should feel delightful then." The short man said, right before he aimed his gun and shot the man four times in the chest.

Eren's scream matched the gunshots in volume, and he covered his ears and buried his face in his bare knees. His breaths were coming in deep pants, and salty tears were stinging his face. _This can't be happening. This isn't happening._ There was no sound coming from the other two men in his hallway, except for the soft breathing of the man who had saved him. Of the man who had just _shot someone in his hallway_. Of the man who had thrown _fire_. He was shaking, every part of him trembling.

The silence was broken by the sound of shoes clicking on the hardwood floor, and then Eren felt someone crouch down beside him. "Hey. You alright, kid?"

"No." The reply was muffled by his knees.

"Get up."

Taking a shaky breath, Eren lifted his head from his legs and managed to push himself to his feet. His balance was tenuous at best, and he swayed slightly where he stood. "You shot him."

"Yeah." Despite the darkness, Eren could make out narrowed eyes and thin brows furrowed in a frown. The shorter man's nose was slim and small, and his lips were down turned in a frown.

"You threw fire."

"Yeah."

"You broke my door."

"Hn." He glanced behind him at the flattened door, before turning back to Eren with an apologetic shrug. "Faster than picking the lock."

Eren swayed uneasily. "I don't feel too good."

The man reached out to grab him, and that was the last thing Eren saw before he felt himself falling and his vision receded into darkness.


	2. Ch. 2

When Eren woke up, he was lying on the couch. The ceiling above him swam in and out of focus, and his eyes watered as he struggled to think around the pounding in his head. A bang from the hallway had him jerking in fright and he swung his legs off the couch, the comforter that had been wrapped around him slipping onto the floor. He almost lost his balance when he stood; his knees were shaky and weak, and trembled a little as he put his weight on them. The steps he took towards the door were uneven, and he had to cling to the wall. He grabbed the first weapon-like object he came across on the way across the room - an umbrella. Maybe not the best fighting utensil he could have hoped for, but he would have to make do. Goosebumps erupted over the flesh of his bare legs as he stepped out into the hall, shivering. There was another bang and Eren jumped violently and held the umbrella over his head, ready to swing.

A short, dark-haired man came into view in the front hall. He appeared to be trying to shove the front door back onto its hinges. Eren's mouth went dry at the sight of him. "Oh my god." It was painful to speak, as though his windpipe was bruised. The man was real. It was real. His house had been broken into and he had nearly been strangled to death, only to be saved by the weird little man who had broken down his door and _shot_ a guy- Eren's head whipped around at that thought, searching the floor where the man had been lying earlier that night.

"You shouldn't be up."

Eren turned, clutching the umbrella to his chest. The man was staring at him, looking thoroughly unimpressed. He had abandoned his attempts to slot the door back into place, and had just left it leaning against the doorframe. Eren's mouth worked for a moment as he struggled for something to say. "I- you don't- what-?"

The stranger sighed violently through his nose, and then began to stride down the hall. He ignored the way Eren tensed and held the umbrella up higher, just marched passed him and turned into the sitting room. When Eren didn't immediately follow, he poked his head back around the door and scowled irritably. "Are you coming or not? Hurry up."

Being ordered around his own house by the stranger that had kicked his front door off its hinges rankled, but Eren was barely keeping his tenuous hold on his sanity as it was, so he said nothing and hurried after the man. He wasn't happy about it, though. When he entered the sitting room, the stranger was already sprawled on the couch. Eren hovered near the armrest uncertainly. "Who are you?"

In the light of the single bulb hanging in the room, the man's features were fully visible for the first time. His dark hair was shaved in an undercut, and his bangs fell over his forehead to fall in his narrow dark eyes. He had a slender, straight nose and thin lips, and was surprisingly well dressed in snug-fitting grey trousers and a white dress shirt. Despite his somewhat unusual features, he was rather striking looking, and Eren knew his gaze was roaming. Thankfully, the man didn't seem to notice his staring. Either that or he was ignoring him. "Levi."

"Levi." Eren repeated. It rolled off his tongue, sounding mysterious and dangerous and maybe Eren was overthinking the name thing, but the guy was kind of hot and he couldn't help it. "What are you- can you please explain what the fuck is going on?"

The man, _Levi_ , didn't answer for a long moment. His slim fingers tapped an irregular rhythm on the armrest of the couch. After a minute, he turned his head and looked over at the window where broken glass lay scattered all around the floor from when the other stranger had broken his way through. "What did that man say to you?"

Eren sighed unsteadily at the memory. "Can you answer my question first?" He almost quailed at the sharp glare Levi turned on him, but he managed to hold his ground, clutching at his umbrella for strength.

"Tell me why he was here, and then we can talk."

Annoyance bubbled up, and Eren just about managed to keep a lid on it. He placed his umbrella by the wall, before marching around the front of the couch and sitting down on the ground - he felt no desire to sit near Levi after seeing him shoot a stranger four times in the chest. "I don't know, okay? I've never seen him before in my life. He rang the landline - I didn't even know this house _had_ a landline!" He ignored Levi's look of disbelief. "I picked it up and he asked me what I was doing in the house and who I was-"

"Did you tell him?" Levi interrupted. He had tensed and leaned forward on the couch; he looked every inch the predator, and Eren leaned away uncomfortably in response.. "Did you give him your name?"

"No." Eren shook his head, but then paused with a frown. "But... He knew my name anyway. He kept asking me about a key, and he said I must know where it is because I'm my dad's son?"

"Doctor Jaeger was your father, right?"

"Yeah." Eren said warily. "Look, what the fuck is going on? You- I was nearly choked to death and then you barged in and broke my front door and _shot a guy in my hallway_ , and you threw _fire_ and I'm still not sure if I'm imagining it or-"

"Calm the fuck down. Just shut up for a minute." Levi looked away for a minute, apparently deep in thought.

Eren stayed quiet to the best of his ability. After counting exactly sixty seconds, he spoke up again. "You didn't really kill that guy, did you?"

Cool grey eyes drifted over to him and observed him silently. Several seconds ticked by, and Eren was just about to open his mouth again when Levi spoke. "Are you even capable of keeping quiet?"

"Holy shit, you _did_ kill him. Oh my god, what the _fuck_ -"

"Why do you even care? Did you not just say that he tried to kill you?"

"That doesn't mean I'm okay with you _shooting him to death in my hallway-_!"

"Oh for fuck's sake-" Levi rolled his eyes so violently it looked as though they were going to fall right out of his head. "He's probably not dead."

"Prob-? _Probably?_ You mean you didn't even _check_?!"

Levi shrugged. "There were other things on my mind. You fucking fainted, and I had to drag your ass to the couch. And then I tried to fix your door."

_This guy is fucking insane_. Eren buried his face in his hands and took deep breaths. "Jesus Christ." He said weakly. "What the fuck. Okay. Okay. Um... Tell me one thing; did you really throw fire, or was that a hallucination?"

In answer, Levi raised his hand and clicked his fingers. The friction generated a spark, and then Levi opened his palm and spread his fingers to reveal the spark growing into a small flame that flickered in the centre of his hand. Eren sucked in a sharp breath and practically dove across the carpeted floor to get closer to the couch. He knelt up and stared at Levi's hand, totally enraptured. Making a fascinated cooing sound, he reached out as though to put his fingers to the flame. Levi whipped his arm back and the flame guttered out. "Don't _touch_ it, you idiot, you'll burn yourself."

"So it's real fire?"

"Yes." Levi rolled his eyes again, and his lips quirked up in a tiny smirk. "It's real fire."

"Neat trick! But... last night.. You threw a fireball at that guy and he caught fire, but he didn't burn."

Levi stood in a fluid motion, startling Eren. "You should clean that glass up." He gestured to the shattered window, and then turned and strode out of the room. Eren stayed where he was for a moment out of surprise, and then staggered to his feet and followed Levi out of the room. When he got to the hall, he let out a soft hiss as the cool air hit his bare legs and arms - he had forgotten that he was wearing nothing but a thin pyjama shirt and boxers. Suddenly self-conscious, he folded his arms over his body as he followed Levi down the hall. Levi stopped sharply in front of the cupboard under the stairs and pulled the door open.

Eren yelped and stepped back as a body toppled out along with two mops and a bucket. "What the-? You shoved him in my _cupboard?"_

"Where else was I supposed to put him?" Levi muttered, crouching down and grabbing the man's body by the back of the neck and hauling him into a sitting position to lean against the wall.

"Literally _anywhere else_."

"What was he looking for, Eren?"

"I told you last night, he said he wanted-" Eren broke off suddenly, blinking slowly. "I.. How do you know my name? I.. I didn't tell you my name." When he didn't receive any reply, not even a simple acknowledgement, he leaned against the wall and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hands. The events of the previous night were beginning to overwhelm him; tears were welling up and his chest felt tight. "I can't do this. I can't do this. What the fuck is going on, I-"

"Hey." Levi was on his feet in an instant, standing in front of Eren with his hands on his hips. He was almost comically short; he was at least 10 centimeters smaller than Eren, and Eren was average height. "Pull yourself together."

"Why won't you tell me what's going on?" Eren had begun to yell without realising it.

"You haven't exactly proven to me that you're able to handle the truth yet." In contrast to Eren's yelling and frustrated tears, Levi's voice was steady and his face was calm. A broken groan had both of their heads snapping around to stare at the slumped body of the man. He had stirred momentarily, but seemed to be very firmly unconscious. Levi sighed and stepped away, moving over to crouch beside the man again. "Well, he's not dead. Help me get him out to my car."

"Are you serious?

"Just grab his fucking arms." Levi snapped, grabbing the man's legs. Eren swore loudly and picked the guy up by his armpits. The guy was tall and long-limbed and far heavier than he appeared, so they struggled under the weight towards the door.

"Why do I have to carry the heavy end?" Eren complained, accidentally bumping into the wall.

"I'm not touching under his filthy armpits." Levi griped back, kicking the broken door out of the way. It fell with a thunk, and they climbed over it with no small amount of difficulty.

"Oh, so it's fine if _I_ have to touch his filthy armpits?" He demanded, almost tripping as they went down the steps and he laid eyes on the car in his driveway. Levi's car was possibly one of the nicest vehicles Eren had ever laid eyes on; he wasn't exactly a car enthusiast, but it was sleek and black and beautiful, and he knew he was gaping at it like an absolute idiot. Levi swore as he struggled to get the boot of the car open with only one hand.

"You're putting him in the trunk?"

"Why would I shove this pathetic bleeding fucker into my perfectly nice car and destroy the upholstery?"

"Holy shit, you are completely fucking crazy." Eren said blankly, watching Levi shove the man into his trunk and slam it shut. 

"No, just too fucking used to this shit." Levi muttered under his breath, turning to face Eren again. His hair had fallen messily into his eyes again, and his cheeks were tinged slightly pink from exertion. The sun was only just peeking up over the horizon, but the circle of trees surrounding the house blocked out most of the light. In the semi-darkness, Eren and Levi stared at each other. There was a long, hesitant silence between them, and they were both reluctant to break it. There was so much Eren wanted to ask, so many questions vying for dominance on his tongue - who was the man who had attacked Eren, currently locked in the trunk of Levi's car? How had Levi turned up in the nick of time to save him? What was the key the man had been after? How had Levi thrown fire like that? There were questions that Eren hadn't even fully formed yet, but he knew that he wanted them answered. Despite Eren's eagerness to ask his list of questions, it was Levi who spoke first. "I'll be on my way now, then."

"What?" Eren asked, startled. "Wait, you haven't explained anything yet-"

"Look kid," and okay, _that_ rankled considering Levi only looked about five of six years older than him and was considerably shorter, but Eren bit his tongue and let Levi continue. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but I sure as hell am not the right person to answer them."

"You-? You're the _only_ person who can answer them! Who was that man? Why was he at my house? How were _you_ at my house?" Eren kept speaking even as Levi turned and walked to the drivers side of his car. "Come _on_ , you can't just leave-!"

" _Look_ ," Levi turned forcefully, glaring. "I can send someone later on to explain, but I have to go now-"

"I want _you_ to explain-!"

It looked like Levi was seconds away from pulling out his gun to shoot Eren and shoving him in the trunk alongside the other man. _"Fine._ " He hissed, "I'll be along later on today, at a fucking reasonable hour."

"Really?" Eren asked, not expecting to have won this victory so easily.

Levi sighed tiredly as he opened the car door and slid in. "Least I could do, considering I broke your front door and shot up your house. Now get the fuck inside before you freeze your skinny ass off."

Eren flushed bright red and hurriedly crossed his arms over his chest in a paltry attempt to hide his state of partial undress. His knees were knocking together from the cold, so he nodded firmly. "Yeah, okay."

* * *

It took Eren almost two hours to clean the scorch marks off the wall, and before that it took a considerable amount of thought to decide on whether or not he should actually clean it off. After all, it served as a reminder that the night before had definitely happened, that it wasn't just a dream. He tried his best to ignore the dark bloodstains and the bullet holes in his shiny hardwood floors, but eventually he was forced to face them and scrub them off. He tried to pry the bullets out of the floorboards, but he gave up after he just ended up with a lot of splinters. Mikasa called at around noon, and Eren was completely torn about telling her about the events of the previous night. He ended up saying nothing, although he felt horrendously guilty about it; she deserved to know, after all she'd done for him and all the times she'd stuck by him. But he didn't want to drag her into a mess he didn't understand, not when he had more questions than he had answers. So he had faked cheerfulness and pretended that he wasn't drowning in a horrible confusion-induced anxiety. Mikasa was no fool; she had known immediately that something was up, but she had said nothing. She had probably just put it down to him still grieving.

It was at around 3pm that reality seemed to hit Eren like a punch in the face. Before, he had been in some kind of numb sense of shock, not really processing a whole lot of the events of the night before. The gravity of what had happened slammed into him like a tonne of bricks all at once; it manifested as a panic attack, and Eren curled up under a blanket on the couch and rocked and sobbed and struggled to catch a breath as his chest burned. It took a while for him to calm down, but after a lot of gulping breaths, he managed to relax enough to get up and make himself a bowl of cereal. He stayed away from the windows. There was a constant cloud of paranoia clinging to him, and it only got thicker and more oppressive as the day wore on and the sun sunk lower in the sky. He felt as though he were being watched and followed, and his nerves were steadily fraying as he waited around for Levi to reappear with answers.

A little bit after 5pm, he heard the noise of a car engine rumbling up the drive. Despite having been waiting all day for Levi's arrival, Eren was wracked with a sudden attack of nerves, and he hid behind the window to sneak a peek outside. When he had confirmed that it was indeed Levi's sleek fancy car outside and that it was indeed Levi striding towards the house, he relaxed marginally and trotted out to meet him.

"Oh good, you put some clothes on." was the first thing Levi said when he stepped over the front door and into the hall.

"Um. Yeah." Eren pulled self-consciously at his ratty jeans, "Uh.. Wanna go to the kitchen?"

Levi tilted his head, signalling Eren to lead the way down the draughty hall and into the significantly cosier kitchen. Eren watched as he took as a seat at the table, looking around with an air of bored interest. "Where do you want to start?"

Eren sat across from him and clasped his hands nervously. "Uh.. From the beginning, maybe? Do you know who that man was?"

"No one important."

"I- but-?"

Sighing, Levi shifted on the kitchen chair and then lounged back. He had taken off his suit jacket and draped it over the back of his chair, leaving himself in just his tight white button-up and blue tie. "He was just some piece of lowlife scum, paid to do a job."

"A job?"

"He was trying to obtain something."

"A key!" Eren remembered, nodding emphatically. "Yeah! But why did he think I knew where it was?"

A single shoulder shrug, and then Levi glanced up at him and asked in a would-be casual tone, "So you don't know about any keys?"

"No." Eren replied flatly, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Hn." Levi tapped his fingers restlessly on the table. "You have houseguests often?"

"Uh. Not really." said Eren, confused at the sudden change in subject.

"Thought so. It's common courtesy to offer your guest refreshments and shit, you know."

"Oh." Eren flushed from the roots of his hair and jumped to his feet. "What can I get you? I don't really have much.."

"Tea?"

"Yeah!" Eren brightened and raced around the kitchen. A box of Mikasa's favourite brand of Japanese green tea was still sitting unopened in the cupboard from her last visit, and Eren tore it open and set about brewing a cup. "Okay, so I have another question."

"What." The flat tone was indicative enough of Levi's general reluctance to be there at all, never mind answer questions.

Without letting Levi's attitude phase him, Eren slid the mug of tea over to his visitor and took his seat again. "Can you show me the fire trick again?"

"Hah." Levi looked as though he were about to smile for a moment, but then apparently thought better of it. He shook back his sleeve and clicked his fingers. Just like before, a flame flared up in the palm of his hand.

"Whoa." Eren breathed, leaning in closer. He watched as the flames danced between Levi's fingers, feeling the heat on his face. "How are you doing that?"

"Magic."

"I'm serious." Eren frowned, trying to peer into Levi's sleeve. "Do you have a hidden lighter of something?"  
The flame flickered out when Levi shook out his hand, and then he pulled both his sleeves back and snapped his fingers again. Another flame sparked up, no lighter or matches in sight. "How are you doing that?"

"I told you. Magic."

Eren looked up, brows furrowed in confusion. It might have been easier to understand whatever joke Levi was trying to play on him had the man not been staring at him with a completely blank expression. "I don't get it."

"You said you wanted to know what was going on." The flame flickered out of existence again, and Levi pulled down his sleeves. "I figured I'd start from the beginning. So; first of all, magic is real." He paused then to give Eren a chance to ask a question, but Eren stayed silent. "The two main types are Elemental magic and Adroit magic. Unless you're a total idiot, it's pretty obvious what elemental magic is - basic control over water, air, earth, and obviously fire."

"Holy shit."

Levi kept talking as though Eren hadn't interrupted. "Adroit magic is different, but I'm not getting into that right now because it's not important. The man who attacked you last night was an Elemental, but he seemed to prefer beating the shit out of you with his hands, huh." He gestured at Eren's throat.

Eren touched the skin around his neck and winced at the tenderness. "He tried to strangle me."

"Yeah. I guessed by the bruises."

"Bruises?" Eren glanced down, but quickly found he was unable to actually view his neck. Mikasa was going to flip her shit. He shook the thought away and focused on the conversation at hand. "Why isn't Adroit magic important?"

"Because you're not getting involved in this shitstorm, that's why. You're getting the least amount of information I can get away with giving you, and that's only because you somehow managed to get dragged into the situation by being in the wrong place at the wrong time." He kept speaking, refusing to give Eren a chance to interrupt. "I don't know what key that asshole was looking for, but I have a feeling it was nothing good. And whatever it is, it must be important. That means there'll be more people coming after you."

Eren gasped sharply. "What? But I don't know anything about a key!"

Levi shrugged. "They don't know that." He took a sip of his tea and raised an eyebrow. "Huh. This is good."

His surprise was a little irritating, as if he had assumed Eren was too incompetent to be able to make a satisfactory cup of tea. "What now?" he asked, ignoring his irritation. When Levi just stared at him, he elaborated, "What do we do now? Do we go looking for this key? How can we find out who's after it?"

A very intense and intimidating glare was directed at Eren's face as Levi lowered his mug and set it on a coaster. "First of all, there is no we. You're not involved in this, and I work alone."

"Like hell I'm not involved in this!" Eren protested hotly, throwing his arms up in the air. He gestured angrily at his neck. "That asshole tried to kill me! I'm not just gonna forget that ever happened, especially now that I know it might happen again! I _am_ involved in this, whether you like it or not!" The second he had finished speaking, he regretted it; Levi's glare had gone from annoyed and intimidating to angry and downright terrifying.

"A hothead like you is hardly going to last long in the world I'm talking about. I've watched people like you die before, kid. This isn't a game."

Eren wasn’t entirely stupid - he noticed the dark look in Levi’s eyes and the way his hands clenched into fists, and knew there was a story there, but it didn’t stop him from arguing his case. As if he was going to be left behind after the one event that had pulled him from the monotony of his grief. "I know it's not a game!"

"Then stop acting like it's one." Levi's voice was cold now, his eyes like slate.

"Maybe if you told me more, I'd be more likely to take this seriously-"

"I've told you all you need to know right now." Levi said, standing up in a movement so fast he nearly blurred. "I need to get back to work."

Eren recovered from the shock of Levi's movement swiftly, and he stood too and lunged across the table. He snatched Levi's suit jacket from where it was draped across the back of the chair and clutched it close to his chest. "Does your work involve magic?"

"Give me my jacket." Levi's voice was flat and angry, his eyes narrowed. His expression was enough to make Eren's resolve falter, but his grip tightened on the jacket. "If you wrinkle it, I swear I'll-"

"Take me with you."

" _Excuse_ me?"

"Take me with you! I want to see more magic. I want to know why that man was after me, and I want to know who else wants this 'key' and why. I want to know _more_ , and I-" his voice dropped low all of a sudden, "I don't want to be left alone."

"So call a fucking friend for a sleepover. Give me back my jacket."

"Take me with you or I'll stand on it." Eren threatened, holding the jacket up high.

Levi swore furiously. "You shitty fucking- _fine._ "

"Yes!" Eren grinned triumphantly, willingly handing over the jacket.

Levi snatched it off him and pulled it on as he led the way out of the kitchen. "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into, kid."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok ok ok it's been so long, i'm so sorry?? honestly i forgot about this story until ImbalancedPhilosophy left a review and i realised i hadn't updated anything in months D: i actually have a few more chapters of this written out! It depends on the interest in the story whether i'll continue or not!
> 
> i'd really love to hear any feedback/constructive criticism that you might have!!!


	3. Chapter 3

"So, where exactly are we going?"

Levi ignored him, the same way he had whenever Eren had tried to ask him questions since they had gotten in the car. The drive was awkwardly silent for the most part; any interaction tended to be one-sided chatter on Eren’s part in an attempt to relieve the heavy silence. After a while he fell silent and settled back in the passenger seat, staring out the window as they drove into town. The fact that he was sitting in a car with the same stranger that had broken into his house, set someone on fire, and saved his life had begun to really settle into Eren’s mind, and he kept casting him nervous looks. 

He was pulled from his thoughts by the unexpected shrillness of his cell phone ringing. Startled, he fumbled with it for a moment before swearing when he saw the caller ID. "Shit," he clicked answer and held the phone up to his ear. "Uh, hey Mikasa!"

" _Hello. How are you feeling?_ "

"I'm great! Yeah. Totally fine. Um. How are you?"

" _I'm.. fine. You sounded totally out of it when I called earlier, so I thought I'd call and see if you were feeling better_."

"Oh. Thanks, Mika. Uh, I was just tired earlier." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Levi raising an eyebrow at him. "I'm feeling better now."

" _Good. Have you eaten?_ "

"Yes." Eren rolled his eyes.

" _Don't roll your eyes at me, Eren Jaeger._ "

"Fuck, how did you even know-"

From the driver's seat, Levi also rolled his eyes before gesturing at the phone. "Hang up. We're here."

"Sorry Mikasa, I gotta go! I'll call you tomorrow!"

" _Eren-_ "

He hung up and spun around to face Levi. "Where are we?" He didn't recognise his surroundings. "What are we doing here?"

"Visiting a friend. Come on."

Eren scrambled to follow Levi out of the car, almost tripping on the sidewalk as he hurried to catch up with Levi. For a man with such short legs, Levi was remarkably fast. "Uh.. I was just wondering-"

"Do you ever quit with the questions?"

Eren ignored the snappish reply and asked his question anyway. "I just wanted to know if I could see the others."

"What others?"

"Well, you're an Elemental, right? You can make fire." Levi didn't answer, so Eren kept going. "Could you show me air and water and earth and stuff?"

Honestly, Eren hadn't really expected Levi to actually demonstrate anything. So when Levi turned and snapped his palm towards a low wall bordering the car park, Eren nearly bit his tongue as a powerful gust of air ruffled his hair and sent bricks exploding outwards. "Air."

Eren stared at the wreckage of the wall, wide-eyed. "Whoa."

"Hurry up. She's waiting for us."

By the time Eren dragged his attention away from the destroyed wall, Levi was several paces ahead of him. He jogged to catch up, and then fell into step beside him. "That was so awesome!" He bounced up and down in excitement, "How did you do that! What about the others? Can I see earth and water?"

"Jeez, kid, calm the fuck down. We're late already, there's no time for a display."

"What are you going to do about the wall?"

Levi shrugged.

"Isn't that, like, destruction of public property?"

"I thought you fucking wanted to see Elemental magic."

"I do!"

"Then stop complaining. In here." Levi gestured to the entrance of a rundown apartment block.

"I wasn't _complaining_." Eren muttered, following Levi in the door. The building was dark and damp, with a single naked bulb providing some weak illumination to the hall. Levi led the way up the stairs, tutting at the threadbare state of the carpet. The walls were mouldy and waterstained, and the muffled sound of shouted arguments issued from a couple of apartments they walked passed.

As they got to the upper floors of the building, it started looking better cared for and less gross. Eren could actually tell what the original colour of the carpet was - an ugly shade of dull orange. They walked onto the eighth floor, and Levi marched to the bottom of the hall. This floor was quiet, with no arguments or TV's blaring from behind the walls. The final door on the hall had a small plaque declaring it to be Apartment 234B, and Levi threw the door open and barged in. Eren followed, dithering slightly. Were they just barging into some stranger’s apartment?

"Hanji!"

When they entered the apartment, Eren's mouth fell open. It was _huge_. There were several doors along the walls, and Eren realised that this apartment spanned the entire floor, and every door on the eighth floor must lead into the one massive room. It was filled with bookshelves that stretched from the floor to the ceiling, laid out in a labyrinthine design across the room. "Whoa." he whispered, gazing around.

"Levi?" A nervous looking man asked politely. "Ms Hanji is waiting in her room for you." Levi acknowledged him with a sharp nod and followed his lead to another door. The man knocked and then opened the door and stepped back to allow Levi entrance. Eren trotted after him, feeling somewhat like an unwanted puppy. The room they stepped into was like another apartment separate from the huge library - the furniture was all worn and colourful, like a clown had vomited a rainbow over the whole room. Nothing matched, and there were even more books lining the walls in here.

There was a woman standing by the window and looking out onto the street, and she whirled around on one foot when they walked in, like a ballerina. Except nothing like a ballerina, because she was far from graceful as she windmilled her arms and lunged forward to keep her balance. "Levi, you're here! Is everything alright? You're _never_ late-!" She broke off suddenly, catching sight of Eren trying rather unsuccessfully to hide behind Levi's much smaller frame. "Oh. Who's this?"

"This is Eren Jaeger." said Levi, reaching behind him and dragging Eren forward and into the woman's view. "From last night."

"You said he was a little kid!" She exclaimed, bouncing forward to examine Eren's face. Her enthusiasm made Eren a little nervous, and he leaned away from her as best as he could without seeming rude. "Oh, you're such a cutie! Hi, I'm Hanji!"

"Uh.. Hi.." Eren said slowly, at the same time as Levi muttered "he _is_ a kid" and ignored Eren's glare.

"What age are you, Eren?" Hanji had massive brown eyes, and they were open and kind and Eren found himself trusting her without putting in any particular thought into the situation.

"Nineteen."

Hanji shook her head at Levi in exasperation. "There you go, he's only seven years younger than-"

"Eight. That's not why we're here, Hanji."

"Right!" Hanji took a step back and bounced over to a desk in the corner of the room. She seemed to bounce everywhere tirelessly, and Eren wondered where she got her energy from - maybe that was magic, too. There were several pages of handwritten notes, and Hanji scooped them all up carelessly before eagerly gesturing at the two of them to take a seat on the couch. Eren glanced at Levi, who nodded and led the way over to one of the comfortably worn loveseats. Eren sat closer to Levi than he probably should have, and Levi pretended not to notice as Hanji cleared her throat. "So, after you dropped Eren's little visitor off this morning, Mike came over to question him. We found out his name is Joseph Turing, he's 25 years old and lives in downtown west Shiganshina district. The first thing we managed to get out of him is that his employer sent him to get a key."

"Any hints as to who his employer might be?"

"No, but-" Hanji broke off and glanced at Eren briefly before returned her gaze to Levi. "Well, he said some serious stuff."

The mood shifted from friendly and playful to grim and businesslike - Hanji's change in demeanour was the most startling, considering how buoyant she had been mere moments ago. Apparently the look that she had shared with Levi meant something, because he turned to Eren and nudged him sharply with an elbow. "Oi, get out of here for a minute."

"But I-"

"Go on. Look around at some books, you might learn something. Let the grown-ups talk."

The only reason Eren didn't snap back with an angry retort was because he honestly already felt as though he were in over his head in this whole situation, and he didn't want to make the situation worse. That, and also Levi's glare was really fucking terrifying. So Eren just sighed angrily and left the room, taking little consolation in Hanji's apologetic smile as he walked out of the little apartment and back into the large book room. The blond man who had ushered them inside Hanji's apartment was standing by the door, flicking through a file. He looked up in surprise when Eren came out and shut the door behind him. "Um. Hey." said Eren, scratching the back of his head.

"Hello," the man lowered the file and gave him a small smile. "Can I help you?"

"Uh.. Levi just told me to wait out here..?"

The man nodded understandingly, and then stretched out a hand, "I'm Moblit," he introduced himself as they shook hands, "I'm afraid if Ms. Hanji is giving one of her reports, it's likely that they'll be a while. You're welcome to look around the library, so long as you keep the noise to a minimum."

"Right. Well, thanks." Taking his cue to leave, Eren wandered off amongst the bookshelves. Given that books weren't his favourite things on a normal day, he didn't put any huge effort into searching for a novel to read. However, most of the books he came across seemed to be about magic and paranormal activity, old tomes written in dead languages and thin novels with nothing but disturbing images depicting various gruesome deaths. As he looked around again, he realised that the library was far from empty - patrons lurked around several of the bookshelves, but they stayed in the shadows where their faces were hidden. The people who didn't stay in the shadows mostly had their faces and heads covered, and a few times Eren could have sworn he saw someone with a weird type of bodily mutation - he was almost _certain_ he had just seen someone with a _tail_ -

"Don't you know it's rude to stare?"

Eren jumped violently at the sudden voice, spinning on his heel so fast that he almost fell into one of the towering bookshelves. There was a girl standing in front of him, the same age or a little older, looking him up and down as though he were something indistinguishable she had just found on the bottom of her shoe. He smiled nervously, "Um. Sorry."

The girl rolled her eyes. She was tiny, Eren realised, maybe even as small as Levi, with pale blond hair and icy blue eyes, and pointed features. "What are you doing here?"

"You know... looking at books." Eren waved sheepishly at all the books surrounding them, hoping that the girl would be considerate enough to pretend she hadn't seen him ignoring the bookshelves in favour of gawking at the library's other visitors. She wasn't.

"You were staring at everyone." There was a beat of silence, and then she said, "You don't belong here."

"It's just a library, jeez." She narrowed her eyes and glared at him, and he held up his hands in defeat. "Okay, okay, I don't belong here. I can't do magic and I don't even recognise what language most of these books are written in - it kinda looks like the elvish language from Lord of the Rings, but I have a feeling it isn't..?"

Someone shushed them from the other side of a bookcase.

"You shouldn't be here." The girl said, keeping her voice low.

"It's not like I'm here on my own to spill all your top-secret magic knowledge." Eren whispered back, annoyed. "I'm here with someone else. And I really don't know anything to spill, anyway. Hey, is there some kind of _'Magic Spells for Beginners'_ book anywhere?" The girl was staring at him as though he were completely stupid, and he hesitantly introduced himself, "I'm Eren, by the way."

For a long moment, it seemed as though the girl was contemplating simply ignoring him and walking away. "Annie." She said, and Eren nearly blessed himself out of relief that she hadn't just left - that would have been exceptionally embarrassing. "And no. Magic isn't something you learn, it's something you're born with."

"Oh." Eren tried to hide his disappointment, but he had a feeling the girl could see right through him. But so what? He was allowed to feel a little sad about the fact that he'd never be able to do anything cool like throw fire or make solid brick walls explode without touching them.

Annie rolled her eyes, before reaching up and pulling a thick paperback book off one of the higher shelves (she could just barely reach it, even stretching on the tips of her toes), and tossing it to him. "Try that."

 _'Basic Supernatural Theory'_. Eren beamed at her. "Thanks!"

"Whatever. Have fun." Annie left then, leaving Eren to sit in a corner with his book. He curled his knees in close to his chest so that he'd take up as little space as possible, and then opened the book and began to read.

-

An hour later, Levi and Hanji _still_ weren't finished up talking. Eren was still in his corner, focusing hard on the book Annie had given him and struggling to take in all the information. According to the book, a basic understanding of theory was completely necessary in order to perform even the most basic magic, but the theory seemed mostly like theoretical physics and Eren was having a difficult time understanding a word of what was going on. Levi had made it look so _easy_ , generating a flame with a simple click of the fingers when, according to the book, creating a simple spark took a colossal amount of concentration and willpower. Never mind his trick with the wall, where he had manipulated the air particles to move through empty space and- honestly, Eren had no idea what the book was talking about.

"You look like you're about to strangle something." Annie's voice didn't take Eren by surprise this time, even as she arrived beside him without a sound.

"None of this makes sense!" He whined, although quietly since he was now hyperaware of the other occupants in the library.

Annie leaned over and glanced over the section he was reading. "Elemental magic?"

"Yeah?"

"What else have you looked at?"

"Um.. That's it, really?"

A blonde eyebrow inched up Annie's forehead, although otherwise her expression didn't change. "You've been reading the same four pages on the theory of Elemental magic for an hour?" Well, it sounded silly when she put it like _that_. "If you're not getting it, look at the other types of magic. There's a whole load, you know. Even if there's a type you like, there's no chance that you'll actually be able to do it."

Choosing to ignore Annie's last sentence, Eren flipped through the various types of magic listed under Adroit magic. "Animation, Conjuring, Disintegration, Energy, Flight- hey, flying sounds cool!"

Annie rolled her eyes. "That's incredibly advanced magic."

"Damn." Eren muttered, looking back to the book. "Healing, Illusion, Invisiblility-" he looked up at Annie at that one, eyes bright, but she shook her head. _Too advanced_. "Invulnerability, Manipulation- fuck, why are there so many different types?"

"People tend to separate Elemental magic from Adroit magic because they think it's gentler, more controlled and less likely to be used violently." The way Annie said it made it clear that she disagreed, and with Eren's experience watching Levi fight with fire and destroy walls with a wave of his hand, he was on Annie's side. "Elementals tend to be seen as peaceful and calm, and Adroit magic is seen as more radical and exploratory. Not always, but that would be the general stereotype."

 _Answers at last!_ This odd, quiet, stoic girl was giving him actual information! "Why?" He asked, fighting not to appear too eager.

"I don't know many Elementals, but they tend to be fairly anti-violence and pro-love and all, and that's great and shit but it's fairly useless when you get into a situation that you actually need to fight in. I mean, they _can_ fight-" _obviously_ , thought Eren as images of Levi flashed up in his mind, "but they usually try to avoid it."

"And Adroits?" Eren had cast the book aside and was leaning closer to Annie, hanging on her every word.

"Adroit magic has such a vast range of different types, it's hard to explain it. You only read out a small portion of the types of Adroit magic. It does tend to be more focused around defensive and offensive magic though, and Elemental is more focused around nature and crap."

"What are you?"

"None of your business." Annie said coolly, with no change to her voice or expression. "Don't be so nosy."

"Sorry." said Eren hastily, picking his book up and setting it on his lap. "I didn't mean to-"

"It doesn't matter." Annie stood, and turned her head to look down an aisle of books. Her brow furrowed and her head tilted slightly, as though listening to something. "I have to go."

"Oh. Bye! Thank for the help."

"Yeah. Good luck."

Eren watched her leave for the second time, before climbing to his feet and stretching out his stiff back. He returned his book to its rightful place and then wandered around the aisles, thinking about the information he had gleaned from Annie. Eventually he ended up back at the front of the library near the door him and Levi had entered from over an hour ago. Moblit was still there, and he looked up from the file he was reading and smiled cheerfully, "Find anything interesting?"

"Uh.. A lot of it was in languages I don't understand."

Moblit nodded. "Yeah, Ms Hanji loves rare books, even if she can't understand a word of them." They fell mostly silent after that. Any attempt at conversation on either part tended to fizzle out fairly quickly, so they ended up just quietly sitting together.

After another half hour, the door to Hanji's apartment _finally_ opened and Levi _finally_ stepped out. Hanji followed, speaking furtively in a low voice about some apparently urgent matter, but Levi waved her off with a sharp shake of his head. "Later." He muttered, before turning to Eren and raising an eyebrow. "Bored to tears yet?"

That single arched eyebrow made Eren tingle - it felt like a _challenge_. "Nope!" He sang cheerfully, popping the 'P'. He bounced to his feet, "Ready to go?"

"Oh, he's so cute!" Hanji stage-whispered to Moblit, who looked fondly exasperated. Eren decided to pretend he hadn't heard her.

"Yeah, come on." Levi gestured to the door with a sharp jerk of his head, and they said their goodbyes to Hanji (she made Eren promise to come visit again, and he had agreed with a grin - that meant that she had accepted his involvement!) and headed out the door. Levi didn't speak again until they were sitting in the car and Eren had put his seatbelt on. "I'm not taking you home just yet." Eren's heart seemed to skip a beat in sheer excitement. Where were they going now? Was there going to be more magic involved? He desperately wanted to see more of Levi's power. "I have to take you to the Sanctuary - the Elders want to meet you. Word got around that you were attacked, apparently."

Eren was too caught up in a daydream where he and Levi were being total badasses fighting bad guys side by side to fully comprehend what Levi had just said. And then he concentrated on the words, and he still didn't understand what he had just said. "Wha-?"

"Do you ever fucking listen?" Levi muttered grouchily, putting his car in reverse and backing out of his parking space.

"Yes!" Eren protested with a pout. "What's the Sanctuary? Who are the old guys?"

" _Elders_." Levi sighed, "Please don't call them old guys to their faces."

"Whatever, who are they?"

"The Sanctuary is like.." He paused in thought, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. "It's like a government for magic affairs."

"Like the Ministry for Magic?"

"What?" Levi stared at him blankly.

"Like the- from Harry Potter! Please tell me you've see Harry Potter." When Levi simply stared out the window and pursed his lips, Eren let out an overdramatic wail of despair. "You can do magic and you've never seen Harry Potter!"

"Shut the fuck up, Jesus Christ."

"You're practically a wizard."

"Holy fuck, I am _not_ a wizard, don't ever call me that again."

Biting his tongue to hold back a laugh, Eren glanced out the window of the car. "I thought Elementals were supposed to be calm and peaceful."

He could see Levi's sharp look out of the corner of his eye. "Who the hell told you that?"

"Doesn't matter." Eren yawned and slumped down in his seat. It was getting late, and the sun was dipping low behind the high-rise buildings they drove past. Eren wondered what time he'd end up getting home at. "So, who are these Elder people?"

The look he received from Levi told him loud and clear that there was no way he was getting away with not answering the question, but Levi let it slide for the time being. "My bosses, basically. They're like.. the Cornelius Fudge's of the Sanctuary."

Eren's head snapped around so fast he nearly pulled a muscle. "You _do_ know Harry Potter!" He crowed in delight, and then he nearly exploded because holy shit was Levi _blushing?_

"I may have seen a few of the movies."

"How many?" When Levi didn't answer, Eren ventured a guess. "All of them?"

"Shut up."

"Haha! Oh man! You're a Harry Potter fan!"

"Shut the fuck up."

"Don't be embarrassed, Harry Potter is great! Daniel Radcliffe was like the first guy I ever had a crush on, and I-" Eren broke off then with a wince. "Okay, that was probably oversharing." Levi said nothing, and Eren began to panic slightly. His thoughts began running along the lines of _oh shit why did I tell him that, he doesn't need to know about who I have a crush on what the fuck he probably feels so uncomfortable right now_. "Um.."

"Who told you that Elementals are calm and peaceful?" Levi asked, apparently deciding to pretend as though the last two minutes hadn't happened.

Relieved and kind of embarrassed, Eren went along with it. "Uh, just some girl I was talking to. She was telling me some more about magic and stuff. It's still really weird that all this exists by the way. But at the same time, it's really..."

"Really what?"

Eren shrugged, struggling to put a word to the feeling. At first he thought he had been in some kind of shock; after all, while he had been freaked out about his house being broken into and the fact that he'd nearly been choked to death, the whole magic thing had barely phased him. He'd been interested in it, amazed and awed and full of wonder, but it had never occurred to him to be _shocked_. It's like he had known somewhere deep down inside, as stupid as that sounded. "I dunno. It's like that feeling right after you wake up after a dream, and you can't remember what it was about but later on you see something that reminds you of something that happened in the dream. And even though you don't know what exactly happened, it's like it's familiar, in the back of your mind... Does that make sense?"

"Not really." Levi said quietly. "But I think I understand what you're trying to say."

"Right." The relief Eren felt at Levi's understanding was enormous. "Well, basically she was just telling me about Elementals and Adroit magic and stuff."

"How much did she tell you, exactly?"

Eren didn't like the way Levi was side-eyeing him; it was distinctly suspicious, and made it look like Levi was hiding something. Which he no doubt was, considering Eren's incredible lack of knowledge on the matter of magic. "Why? Is there something she shouldn't have told me?" He asked. Levi ignored him, and that pretty much cemented Eren's suspicions. He decided to turn it around on Levi, "What were you and Ms Hanji talking about?"

"None of your business."

Their surroundings were beginning to look familiar to Eren as he looked out the window. They were driving into the centre of the town, it seemed. "It is totally my business. You were talking about what happened to me, weren't you?" When Levi didn't reply, Eren couldn't find it in himself to feel anything other than resignation. Was this just how their exchanges were going to be? Eren asking questions and Levi just completely ignoring him? "Whatever."

Levi sighed then, and his long fingers clenched around the steering wheel. "I'm trying to do you a favour."

"By keeping me in the dark?"

"By distancing you from things that are likely to get you fucking killed." They both lapsed into silence, but the unspoken words between them seemed to hang thick and heavy until Levi gritted his teeth and spoke again. "There are things that you just don't understand-"

"Yeah, because you won't explain anything-!"

"What exactly would you do if I explained everything, huh?" Levi demanded as he indicated left, taking the turn sharply and flipping the car behind them the middle finger when they blew the horn. "You plan on just jumping right into a world you don't fucking understand?"

"I only don't understand it because you won't explain it to me-!"

"Shut up."

"What? No! It's not fair, I deserve to know what's going-"

" _Shut up_." There was a change in Levi's voice, a sharp edge to his words that hadn't been there before. "Hold on."

"Wha-?" Eren was flung against the side of the door as Levi wrenched the car violently to the side and swung in a full circle, before speeding back the way they had come. "What the hell!"

"We're being followed."

Startled, Eren turned around and peered out the back window just in time to see an unmarked black van pull a move almost identical to the one Levi had just done, turning and then speeding after them. "Oh shit."

"Sit down properly. Are you wearing your seatbelt?" Levi snapped, his words clipped and harsh.

"Yes!" Eren's heart was thumping in his throat, and he cringed in the seat as Levi pressed his foot to the accelerator and the car shot forwards. _This fucking sucks_ , Eren thought, clutching the edge of his seat. His fingernails were digging crescent shapes into the leather, but Levi was too focused on his driving to notice (thank god, because Eren was pretty sure he wouldn't have taken kindly to him ruining the car seats).

After several sharp turns and manoeuvres, the black van was still on their tail and Levi was busy swearing up a storm. They were driving parallel to the river that snaked through the city, and Eren could see the dark water through the rail separating the road from the drop. "Fuck it!" Levi swore loudly after he executed a complicated turn but still failed to lose their tail.

"Why are they following us?" Eren demanded. Instead of answering, Levi just accelerated again. The car was going dangerously fast, swerving and dodging around traffic neatly and efficiently. There were a few near misses where they nearly collided with another car or a building, but Levi managed to avoid every obstacle. It was getting dark, so the there were fewer cars on the road and that helped Levi in his manoeuvring strategies. Eren half-wondered if Levi might have been magically controlling the car to prevent any crashes.

That line of thought was brought to an abrupt end when something collided hard with the back of the car, and suddenly everything was swerving and Eren was clutching the seat as he was upside down suddenly and was the car flipping? Someone was screaming and Eren had a funny feeling it was him, but his eyes were screwed shut so he couldn't see if it was Levi. He somehow doubted it was, though.

Everything came down to the ground _hard_ , with the sound of screeching metal and shattering glass. Eren's head hit the ceiling, and it took him a long minute to realise the car had landed on its roof. He groaned, long and low as he peeled open his eyelids. His neck hurt, and his movements were shaky as he moved his hands to his seatbelt and unbuckled himself. The second the restraint was gone, he slumped on the roof and clumsily moved to pry the door open.

The door fell open, and the sound of approaching footsteps reached Eren's ears, causing his eyes to widen in panic. Whoever had been chasing them was marching up to their car. He turned to look at Levi, despite his protesting neck. The dark-haired man was barely stirring - there was a large red gash across his pale forehead, and blood dripped steadily into his bangs. Before Eren could move to check if he was alright, his eyes blinked open sluggishly and he groaned in pain. Eren leaned forwards, breathing heavily. "L-Levi?"

The sound of Eren's voice had Levi's eyes sharpening, and he became slightly more alert. His gaze shifted passed Eren's shoulder, and his eyes widened as he uttered a curse. "You need to run."

"Wait, we need to get you out, you're injured-"

"You need to fucking run, Eren!" Levi hissed, his eyes widening as he stared out the window. When Eren turned to see what he was looking at, he saw a tall figure dressed all in black stalking towards the car. "You need to run right now, before they get any closer- Jesus fuck, _run_!"

This was wrong. Eren stared at him in a little bit of confusion and a huge bit of fear; Levi looked _scared._ His narrow eyes were blown wide, and his breaths were coming in sharp puffs as his hands struggled with his seatbelt - it was stuck. "I can cut it with my keys-"

"Just _go!_ " Levi wasn't whispering anymore. He was shouting. "Go, or both of us will be fucking dead! I'll catch up with you, you stupid shit, just _run_!"

Eren threw himself out of the car and bolted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okaaay i got more comments than I expected to and i'm honestly really pleased with how the story is being received so far! i'm glad you like it, and i hope you continue to like it!  
> i'd really love to know what you think if you have the time to leave a comment!


	4. Chapter 4

It was only after Eren had thrown himself out of the car that he realised he had no idea where he was, and had no idea where he could run to. The dark figure had paused slightly when Eren had stumbled out of the wreckage, but as soon as Eren turned tail and fled he could hear the person racing after him. The only solution Eren could see was a narrow alleyway, and he ran towards it as fast as his legs could carry him. It wasn't as good an idea as he had thought at first, as he realised very quickly. There were no streetlights here, and Eren found himself hurtling through the dark with his hands outstretched in front of him, praying he wouldn't trip or collide with something he couldn't see.

"Shit shit shit shit shit shit-" he repeated the mantra as he ran, hearing the pounding footsteps behind him as they closed in on him. He was too close, and Eren still couldn't fucking _see_ where he was going, so for all he knew he could be running headfirst into a wall.

" _Left."_ The warning sounded like a soft whisper in the back of his mind, and Eren twisted at the last moment, narrowly avoiding smearing his face all over a solid wall of bricks as he pushed off it with his hands and used his momentum to propel him to the left as he kept running through an adjoining alley. Behind him, he could hear the solid _smack_ and loud cursing of the person chasing him being not as lucky as himself. Eren didn't let himself pause, he kept pumping his legs until his muscles were burning and his heart felt like it was about to jump right into his mouth.

The alley opened up abruptly, and the sudden appearance of the street and lights dazzled Eren for a moment, and he came skidding to a stop. Whirling around, he searched the empty street for any sight of Levi. At the very end of the road, he could see the smoking heap of Levi's destroyed car, and he started to walk towards it. Barely two steps later, someone collided squarely with Eren's back and tackled him to the ground. He shrieked as he felt the skin of his knees and palms tear on the rough ground, and the heavy weight of his attacker was painful on his back.

" _The key._ " the voice was little more than a snarl, the words nearly unintelligible. The message got across loud and clear though, and Eren squirmed and writhed as he struggled to force the person off his back.

"I don't have a key!" Eren screamed, tears blurring his vision as his attacker forced his face into the ground. A sharp rock dug into the soft flesh of his cheek, and he felt warm blood trickle down to his chin. His mind was so clouded with terror and panic that he could feel himself begin to freeze up, his body beginning to slow. He was still fighting back, but it was so hard and all he could think about was how he was going to die and he didn't even get to say goodbye to Mikasa and Armin. They'd never know about magic, would never know how he met his end. What if these crazy people went after them next, purely because of their association with Eren? The thought made Eren's blood run cold, and he resumed his thrashing with renewed vigour. And what about Levi? Eren didn't even know if the man was dead or alive - he could still see the smoking wreck of the car in the distance, but there was no sign of life anywhere near it. Levi had warned him about this world, but he had insisted in throwing himself into it and now here he was, thrashing on a wet street in the middle of the night about to be killed by some faceless stranger. Eren closed his eyes and screamed, _"Levi!"_

_"He's not coming."_ the person growled, tightening their grip on the back of Eren's neck.

If Levi was dead, then it was Eren's fault. It was Eren that these freaks were after, and it was Eren that they had attacked Levi's car for. All for some _stupid key_ that Eren knew nothing about. There was still fear clouding Eren's mind, but it was quickly joined by anger. Muscles tensing, Eren threw his elbow back and was rewarded by a sharp _crack_ as he made contact with the stranger’s nose. Taking advantage of the momentary weakness, Eren bucked and threw the person off him, before struggling to his feet. His knees were weak and wobbly, but he managed to run as best as he could across the street. Pounding footsteps sounded behind him barely a few seconds later, and he put on a burst of speed. He didn't even know where he was going, there was nowhere to run. He was heading right for the railing protecting the drop into the river. An incredibly stupid idea popped up in his head and he didn't even have time to think it through, he just kept sprinting towards the railing. There was a pressure on his back, and Eren's pulse jumped when he realised that it was _fingers_ and that his pursuer was trying to grab the back of his shirt.

Eren vaulted the railing just as he felt the dark figure's hand close tightly around the edge of his shirt. For a moment it seemed that he would be dragged back by the person but then his momentum carried him forward and he went over, falling into the churning dark water below.

* * *

"-ren! Fuck, wake up. Come on, you stupid shit, please wake up-"

Everything was dark, and Eren couldn't feel his fingers or toes. Something was pressing relentlessly on his chest, and it hurt like hell and his lungs felt like they were on fire. Was he dead? He couldn't remember what had happened, and he couldn't figure out why he was stranded in darkness.

Whatever was pressing on his chest impacted hard, and suddenly he was choking and coughing and water was erupting up his throat and spilling out of his mouth. Firm hands rolled him over on his side, and he sucked in a breath that felt like swallowing glass. His eyes flickered open, and the darkness was replaced by the sight of someone kneeling in front of him. Instincts kicked in before anything else, and he weakly tried to roll away. He didn't get very far; every inch of his body screamed in pain and fatigue.

"Stay still." The sound of Levi's voice had Eren freezing in place. "Jesus Christ, if you ever pull a stupid fucking stunt like that again, I'll leave you to drown."

Eren craned his neck around, and caught sight of a very wet-looking Levi kneeling beside him. Dark hair was plastered to his pale forehead, his suit soaked through and clinging to his body - Levi must have jumped into the river after him. "L-L-Lev-vi-"

"Shhh." Levi gripped Eren's shoulders and hauled him up into a sitting position, rubbing his back as Eren choked up more water.

After he coughed up the remaining water in his lungs, Eren leaned heavily into Levi's strong chest. "T-thought you were d-dead-" he broke off with a violent shiver.

"It'd take more than a little car wreck to finish me off."

"You're bleeding." Eren whispered, staring at the bloody gash across Levi's pale forehead. "You should get to a hospital-"

"It's fine, just a scratch." Levi waved his concern away, standing with a small amount of difficulty. He reached down and pulled Eren to his feet, steadying him when he staggered. "Are you hurt?"

"'M okay. Little banged up." It was a lie, really - Eren was very fucking far from okay. He was cold and scared and wet, and he had no idea where the person who had been chasing him had gone to. But Levi's arms around him were a comfort, even though all he was doing was half-dragging him down the street. They were both soaked to the bone and shivering as the cool night wind bit through their wet clothes.

"I need to call a cab. And a tow truck." Levi sighed as they reached the end of the street, stopping by his upside down car. It looked even worse up close; all the windows were shattered, two of the doors had been torn off, and the body had been dented almost beyond recognition. "Fuck. I really loved that car."

"It was a really nice car." Eren agreed, still trembling in the cold.

"Wait here." Withdrawing his arm from around Eren's shoulders, Levi moved towards his car and crouched by the window, leaning in and pulling out a miraculously intact mobile phone.

Eren did as Levi told him and waited by the car as Levi marched off to make a few phone calls. As subtly as he could, Eren watched Levi; he had discarded his suit jacket (presumably before jumping into the river) and his thin white dress shirt had turned translucent. Face reddening, Eren turned and tried to focus on something else. Like the fact that he had been chased by a madman, jumped into a river, and had been saved by the smallest full grown man he'd ever seen. He still wondered where the guy that had been chasing him had gotten to. As soon as that thought had occurred to him, Eren tensed and began looking around uneasily. The street was dark but for a couple of streetlamps dimly illuminating patches of the road, shadows stretching far between each circle of light. He couldn't see the river but he could hear the rough sound of the coursing water, and it made him nervous.

The sound of Levi's dress shoes clacking on this ground made Eren start, and he turned to see Levi striding towards him. His lips were going slightly blue from the cold, but he seemed completely unaffected. "Hanji is sending a car for us."

"To go w-where?"

"The Sanctuary, I already told you. I have to meet with some people."

The thought of having to go somewhere unknown and meet more magic strangers while soaking wet made Eren's heart sink. "Can't we go tomorrow? It's just.. we're both soaking and freezing, and I'm so tired."

Levi sighed heavily and ran his hand through his sopping hair. "No." He said shortly, "the Elders are expecting us." He held his hand out in front of Eren and curled his fingers slowly.

"What are you-?" Eren's words faded into nothing as the water began to lift off him, forming a cloud of droplets above his head. Levi moved his hand, and the cloud of water floated a few feet away; when his hand dropped, the cloud released the water and it rained on the sidewalk. Eren ran a hand through his newly-dried hair, "Holy shit! Was that your water power?"

"It was." Levi acknowledged, fixing the cuffs of his shirt.

"That was so cool!" Eren cheered, momentarily forgetting his anxieties. "Why didn't you do that instead of jumping in after me?"

Levi said nothing for a long moment, before shaking his head. "Did it say anything to you?"

"What?"

"The Aoibhe. Did it say anything to you?"

"What.. what's an Aoibhe?"

"The _thing_ that was chasing you."

"It.. You mean it wasn't human?" Eren's eyes widened in horror. "But- where is it now?"

"I took care of it."

Eren opened his mouth, but then he caught sight of the stains of Levi's shirt - they looked black in the dark, but Eren was sure in the light the stains would be bright red. "Oh." He waited for the horror to come, the disgust. Instead, he felt nothing.

The headlights of an approaching car lit up the street, and Levi turned to face it head on. "Looks like our ride is here. Come on."

-

Hanji had sent Moblit with a car to collect them and drop them to the Sanctuary, or wherever it was that they were going. Levi sat up front with Moblit and conversed in low tones. From the back seat, Eren strained to listen in but no matter how hard he tried to hear what they were saying, he couldn't make out a single word. He wondered vaguely if that was magic too. By the time they finally pulled up at their destination, Eren was bored and irritated at having to have sat in the back for so long with nothing to do. As the car stopped, however, nerves flooded in and his excitement spiked - he was about to be introduced to the magical world for real! He glanced out the window, prepared to see some towering building or palace-like structure; surely the building housing the equivalent of the Ministry for Magic would be extravagant and extraordinary to behold! Instead, he saw a history museum.

Eren blinked at the building for a moment. He was about to ask where they were, wondering if Moblit had maybe made a wrong turn, but then he saw Levi getting out of the car. He followed Levi's lead, thanking Moblit hastily before following Levi up the stone steps leading into the museum. "Um.. Where are we going?"

"I told you already, the Sanctuary."

"And.. The Sanctuary is in a.. museum?"

"Yes. That's why we're in a museum." Levi gave him a look that seemed to say _'how are you finding this difficult to understand?'_.

"Right." Eren nodded and resolved to say nothing more about it. Two seconds later, he said "So do magic people just love fossils or something?"

Levi sighed. For a moment, Eren thought he was going to tell him to shut up, but Levi just said "No. The museum is a good cover for the Sanctuary. No one would think to look for it here."

That was true, Eren supposed. "I came here once when I was a kid." He confessed, "On a school trip."  
They walked through the wide halls, passed a display on Vikings and a collection of artefacts from the Bronze Age. Levi glanced at Eren as they walked and raised an eyebrow, silently asking where this story was going. "I thought it was pretty boring. And I ate a bad corndog and puked all over a collection of mouldy gold or something and got thrown out."

"Hn, that's disgusting." What could possibly have been a small smile crossed Levi's face then, as he led the way passed a reconstruction of a longboat. "You found it boring because they never show the interesting side of history in mortal museums."

"What's the interesting side?" Eren asked curiously, eyes shining.

"Personally, I always enjoyed hearing stories of the magic wars."

Eren's eyes were as round as saucers as his mouth silently formed the words ' _magic wars'_. "Holy shit. Will you tell me about them sometime?"

They had entered the Ancient Egyptian section of the museum. Levi stopped next to a sarcophagus, and gave Eren an indecipherable look. "Yeah. Sure." He said eventually, before jerking his head to the left to encourage Eren to get moving. "Come on, over by that mummy."

"Mummy?" There was, sure enough, a small body wrapped from head to toe in bandages slumped against the side of a small sarcophagus against the wall. It was behind a protective glass case, but the way the face was hidden by the yellowing and fraying bandages was decidedly unnerving.

"It's not real." Levi rolled his eyes, taking notice of Eren's apprehension. He took hold of Eren's sleeve and tugged him over to stand next to him, surprisingly gentle. Once they were standing side by side, Levi cleared his throat and leaned forward. "Levi Ackerman and Eren Jaeger, here to see the Elders."

Eren stared at him in concern, trying to figure out who he was talking to. His breath was fogging the glass thanks to his close proximity, and Eren couldn't help but reach the conclusion that Levi must have been addressing the mummy behind the glass case. "Um.. Levi? Are you-?"

"Do you have an appointment?" The mummy interrupted.

Eren stared.

"Yes." said Levi, apparently choosing to ignore Eren for the moment. "We got delayed."

"One moment please." The mummy tilted its bandaged head. A bit of black flesh was revealed in the juncture of its neck where the bandages shifted slightly, and Eren forced himself to look away, feeling decidedly queasy. "An assistant is on their way down to you."

Levi nodded his thanks, then turned back to Eren. "What's wrong with you?" He asked, noticing the pale tinge to Eren's usually tanned brown skin.

"It- you- it spoke?"

"I did." The mummy acknowledged with a bob of the head.

Eren expelled a rather violent exhale through his mouth and whispered "what the fuck."

"It's the Gatekeeper." Levi murmured, glancing around to make sure no one was around to see them.

"You said it wasn't real!"

"It's not a real mummy." Levi shrugged and adjusted the cuffs of his shirt. "The Elders enchanted it to protect the Sanctuary. It mostly acts as a secretary though."

"I resent that." The mummy said, although it sounded rather cheerful. "Assistant Petra has arrived to escort you to the meeting room. Good luck." And with that, the glass case slid aside to reveal a large cavity in the wall.

There was a woman with caramel coloured hair and a sweet smile standing there, and she said, "Welcome back, Captain. It’s been a while since you visited."

"I was summoned directly, couldn't avoid it this time." Levi muttered, "Good to see you, Petra."

Petra frowned, catching sight of the gash on Levi's forehead and the bloodstains on his shirt, then glancing at Eren. Instead of saying anything, she inclined her head and then turned and began walking back into the hidden corridor the mummy had been concealing. Levi followed after her, and Eren fell into step behind him, eyes huge. "Captain?" He said curiously.

"A nickname." said Levi, his voice low as they marched down the dark corridor. There was a low rumbling as the mummy slid back into place behind them, effectively sealing them inside. Eren stepped closer to Levi nervously, and the older man noticed. "You afraid of the dark?"

"I don't like small spaces."

"Hm. We'll be out in a minute."

Sure enough, they emerged into a huge atrium mere moments later. Eren's jaw fell open as he gazed around him; the whole room seemed to be carved from nothing but creamy pale marble. Pillars rose up from the corners of the room, carved with intricate depictions of what looked like magical creatures, and there were several majestic murals painted on the ceiling. People milled about, chatting and laughing - they were wizards, or magicians or mages or whatever the fuck these people were supposed to be called.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic." Levi's voice came from beside him, sounding vaguely mocking.

Eren couldn't bring himself to take offense; he was too busy trying to drink in the sight around him with wide eyes. "This is amazing." He whispered, and then glanced at Levi.

To his surprise, Levi was already looking at him. His expression had softened slightly, and one of his eyebrows was arched delicately. "I had the same reaction when I first came here." He said quietly.

Eren opened his mouth, ready to ask a whole host of questions about Levi's life, but he didn't get a chance to. Petra turned back to them and gave them a polite smile. "They're waiting for you in Conference Room Two."

Levi straightened up and took a deep breath. "Let's get this over with, then."

* * *

Eren wasn't really sure what he had been expecting from Conference Room Two. It was a hidden magic government, so really Conference Room Two could have been anything. He had assumed it would be made from the same white marble with the same grandeur as the atrium, and that the Elders would be standing and waiting with long black cloaks and mysteriously hidden faces. The reality was slightly disappointing. As the name suggested, it really was just a conference room. The carpet was dark blue and spotless, and there was a large conference table right in the middle of the floor. There were no windows, but it was very well-lit.

"This is kind of a let down." Eren whispered once Petra had closed the door behind them.  
Levi snorted.

A door in the back of the room opened, and three people that Eren could only assume were the Elders filed out. They were not, as Eren had imagined, wearing long black robes. They were three middle-aged white guys, all dressed smartly in crisp shirts and pressed slacks. Eren felt their gaze on him as they sat down around the table. It felt like he was at a business meeting.

The oldest looking of them extended a hand to gesture at the seat in front of them. "Sit, please." He said with a cheerful smile.

There was a light pressure on Eren's lower back, and he realised that Levi was pushing him in the direction of the seats. Once his brain caught up, he hurriedly took an offered seat. The Elders watched as Levi sat next to him, promptly reclining back in the chair.

"This is the Jaeger child?" The same old guy asked, surveying Eren carefully.

Resisting the urge to bristle angrily at being called a child (he'd be twenty in a few months, damn it), Eren nodded. "I'm Eren."

"Dot Pixis." The eldest man introduced, before gesturing to his companion on the far left, "This is Keith Shadis," the bald man nodded, and Eren found himself uncomfortable under his intense gaze. Pixis pointed at the mans in the middle, "and Rod Reiss."

Reiss leaned forward. His dark hair was greasy, and fell into his forehead as he spoke. "Ackerman informs us that you were attacked."

"Which time?"

The three Elders blinked, and then looked to Levi. "There was a complication on the way here." He said without looking at them; his sharp eyes were fixed on a point beyond Pixis's head. "An Aoibhe."

"You took care of it?" Shadis asked. At Levi's nod, they all relaxed slightly.

"It was after the same thing the first attacker was after; a key." Levi looked away from the small section of wall he had been glaring at to face the Elders. He lowered his voice then and muttered, "Fucking wrecked my car and everything."

"What key?" Reiss asked, at the same time Pixis said "Did you sustain any injuries?"

"Nothing serious," Levi answered Pixis first, before turning to Reiss. "Eren says he has no idea what they could be talking about."

And just like that, Eren found himself under intense scrutiny from the three Elders. He unsuccessfully tried to sink back and disappear into the leather of the seat.

"No idea at all?" Shadis asked, his eyebrows raised at a sharp angle. It was pretty clear that he didn't believe it in the slightest.

"No sir." Upon being addressed, Eren made an effort to sit up and make eye contact. "I thought at first he might have meant the key to the house, but it was sitting on the table in the front hall and he didn't try to take it."

"He settled on trying to strangle you instead." Levi muttered, ignoring the glare Eren shot him.

"Where is the man now?"

"In the custody of Hanji."

The Elders grew tense then, and Shadis' eyes narrowed dangerously. "Hanji Zoe is not affiliated with the Sanctuary."

If Eren didn't know better, he'd have said that the temperature in the room dropped by a few degrees. Levi kept his voice cool and disinterested, but Eren was sitting right beside him and could see his fists clenching. "No, but she has some very effective ways of extracting information from people."

"You had no authorisation to hand him over. You should have brought him straight to the holding cells here."

"I got answers this way."

Pixis leaned forward then, interrupting whatever Shadis was about to say. "You got answers?"

"We know who his employer is." Levi said coolly, his fists relaxing.

"And?" All three of the Elders were focused on Levi now, waiting for an answer.

Instead of answering them, Levi turned to Eren and muttered, "Go and wait outside."

Eren blinked at him in dismay. "You're kidding."

"Eren-"

"I have as much a right to know as these guys do!" Eren hissed, before realising that the Elders might construe that as disrespectful. He shot them a sheepish look of apology and was met with three shoulder shrugs. He turned back to Levi. "Come on, you can't keep shutting me out like this."

"For the love of-," Levi leaned in close to him, "I'll fucking tell you later, okay? Just go wait outside for now. I need to talk to these guys alone."

Everything in Eren wanted to refuse, to sit there and cross his arms and pointblank refuse to leave. But Levi had promised to tell him later, and he didn't seem like the kind of guy to go back on his word. So Eren muttered a thoroughly disgruntled "fine" and got up and left, trying to pretend he wasn't sulking.

"Stay outside the door, and don't touch anything!" Levi called after him.

Eren just rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

He could hear chuckling as the door closed, and someone (it sounded like Pixis) said "He reminds me of you, Levi."

Petra was still waiting outside the room, and she gave him a friendly smile as he closed the door behind him. "How did it go?"

"I dunno. I got kicked out."

Petra nodded knowingly. "Levi probably doesn't want to endanger you any more. He's like that."

"Yeah." Eren stuck his hands in his pockets. His shoulders were tense and sore, and his throat still really hurt from the choking and the amount of water he had ingested. All in all, he felt like crap.

"Why don't you go for a wander around?" Petra asked, noticing Eren's mood. "It's your first time here, right? The Sanctuary is amazing! Why don't you go exploring?"

Eren paused. _'Stay outside the door'_ , Levi had said. Well, fuck that. "Yeah, I think I will. Thanks Petra." She waved as he set off, heading back down the marble corridor into the main atrium. It really was an amazing place; groups of people stood around laughing and chatting, officious looking people strode around looking condescending, and every so often someone would get bored and decide to do a magic trick.

Eren sat down against a wall and watched these casual displays of magic with wide-eyed awe. There were people his age nonchalantly walking up walls, or turning their skin bright purple, or disappearing in clouds of sparkling blue mist only to reappear on the opposite side of the hall. They performed the acts so effortlessly and gracefully that Eren couldn't help but be envious. Even without being able to join in, Eren felt comfortable there. The bright colours and the sounds of laughter and fizzing and popping all felt so _familiar_ , but Eren had no memory of ever witnessing a scene like this. He sat there for so long that he completely lost track of time, and he was so absorbed in watching the display that he didn't notice a boy sitting down beside him.

"It's impressive, isn't it?" The boy said, causing Eren to jump. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"That's okay." Eren said, forcing a smile. He hadn't even heard the boy sit next to him, and his heart was thrumming in his chest. What if that had been another attacker, and he had been too distracted to notice before it was too late?

The boy smiled then and turned back to watching the people in the atrium showing off their magic skills. "It's your first time here, right?"

"Yeah.." Eren squinted suspiciously at him; he looked fairly harmless, with dark brown hair and   
Eyes, and freckles scattered across his caramel brown skin, similar to Eren's. He looked to be Eren's age, too.

The guy obviously noticed Eren's unease, because he smiled cheerfully at him. "I'm Marco. I'm an empath." Before Eren could express any confusion, he elaborated, "I can sense people's emotions."

"Oh."

"I didn't mean to sense you or anything," Marco looked slightly embarrassed, "It's just.. well, it's like your emotions are in one big tangle. I could feel you from across the room. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Eren blinked in surprise. That was.. actually really nice. "Oh. Thank you. I'm, uh.. I'm fine."

The dubious look he got made it pretty clear that Marco didn't believe that for a second. "You're terrified. And angry. And amazed. And frustrated. And you feel out of place but you also feel like you're comfortable here, and.. Honestly, you're feeling so much all at once and so strongly, I can't believe you're not totally overwhelmed."

"Oh." Eren laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck. "I dunno, I mean.. It's a bit overwhelming just being here."

Marco nodded understandingly. "Of course." He went to say more, but was cut off by a call of his name by an approaching guy. The boy was tall and slender, with his hair chopped in a bad undercut. He sauntered over and stopped right above them, a cocky grin on his face.The arrogance in his stance put Eren on edge straight away, but Marco smiled at him, "Hey, Jean."

Jean was staring at Eren, his long face scrunched into a frown. "Who the hell is this guy?"

His tone was rude and it caused Eren to tense up even further. Obviously sensing the tension, Marco said calmly, "This is Eren. Eren, this is Jean."

"Hi." said Eren.

"Hey." Jean replied dismissively, and then turned to Marco, "Come back to the group, Connie's about to start blinking!"

Figuring it was probably best not to ask what was so great about watching someone blink, Eren settled back against the wall and turned his gaze back on the people in the atrium. He could vaguely hear Marco saying "I think I'll stay here with Eren", but he was mainly focused on watching some guy walk through walls, much to the amusement of his friends.

"What's so special about that guy?" asked Jean, sounding slighted. It was a struggle to not roll his eyes, but Eren somehow, miraculously, managed. "Hey, what do you do? Elemental or Adroit?"

"Jean-" Marco began with a frown, but Jean was not to be dissuaded.

"What kind of power do you have?" Jean kept badgering him, asking questions of various levels of invasiveness, until Eren snapped.

"I don't _have_ any magic." Eren hissed, annoyed. All he wanted to do was watch people do their tricks - he was seriously _not_ in the mood to be messed with by some guy with a stupid face. He ignored the concerned glance he received from Marco, who obviously sensed his mood.

"Why are you here then?" Jean frowned. The guy was either completely oblivious or totally stupid if he kept talking despite Eren's obvious irritation. "I didn't think they let mortals into the Sanctuary."

_Mortals_. Eren was beginning to get seriously annoyed at the guys blatant superiority complex. "It's not like I particularly wanted to come." he snapped. Honestly, despite his delight at seeing the displays of magic in the atrium, he'd much rather be curled up in his bed after the shitstorm of a day he'd had.

"You're kidding, right? So how the fuck did you get in? Non-magic people aren't allowed in the Sanctuary."

"Would you fuck off?" Eren snapped.

Jean scoffed rudely. " _I_ actually belong here."

Eren was on his feet before he even realised it, standing toe-to-toe with Jean and glaring into his eyes. "You know what? I've had a really shitty fucking day. I've been attacked twice in the past twenty-four hours, and I still have no idea why. No one is telling me anything, and the _last thing I need_ is some stupid, horse-faced fuck trying to make my life miserable."

" _What did you just call me?_ "

"Guys, please-!" Marco was on his feet too, trying to pull Jean away.

"Did I speak too fast?" Eren sneered, "Neigh, neigh."

"You fucking-" Jean pulled his fist back, ready to fire off a punch, and Eren had tensed and put his arms up in return, fully prepared to fight back and let loose some of the pent-up aggression building up inside of him.

" _Jaeger!_ " Levi’s voice boomed through the atrium, and had several people practically cowering. He was striding quickly across the room, shoes clicking loudly against the marble floor in the silence that fell. He looked furious.

"Captain Levi." Jean breathed, jerking away from Eren and snapping his arms into a salute.

Levi came to a stop in front of them and completely ignored Jean, instead aiming his glare directly at Eren. "Did you not fucking hear me when I told you to wait outside?"

"I waited for over an hour at Hanji's!" Eren protested immediately, "How was I supposed to know how long you were going to take!"

"So you decided to go wandering and _get in a fight?_ "

There was a small squeak, and it took Eren a second to realise it had come from Jean. "I'm sorry, sir! We were out of line."

"I didn't start it." said Eren petulantly, earning himself twin glares from both Levi and Jean.

"Who are you?" Levi asked, surveying the other boy.

"Jean Kirstein, sir."

"I don't know you." said Levi, before turning back to Eren. He didn't notice Jean's crestfallen look, but Eren did and he felt a small amount of petty triumph. "After all the shit that's happened to you since last night, you think it's a good idea to go off on your own?"

Feeling slightly guilty, Eren shifted on his feet and shrugged. "I just wanted to look around."

Levi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fuck. Whatever. Look, just wait here. I need to talk to Petra for a minute, and then I'll take you home."

"And then you'll tell me what you were talking about with the Elders?"

"Don't push your luck." Levi said irritably. "I'll tell you, just wait here and don't do anything stupid." He walked away then, leaving Eren with Jean and Marco, blatantly ignoring the staring and whispering that had started somewhere in the middle of their exchange.

As soon as Levi was out of earshot, Jean spun to face Eren. " _How_ do _you_ know Captain Levi?"

Eren honestly couldn't help the small spark of pride he felt - he may not be able to do magic, but Levi was still worried when he went missing, and had completely snubbed Jean in favour of Eren. It was sort of darkly satisfying, even if it was immature to be pleased about such things. "He broke into my house and shot a guy in my hallway."

The look on Jean's face was priceless. "So that's why you're at the Sanctuary? You're with him?"

Marco also looked impressed, although he was far more subtle about it. "Levi is a legend around here. People say he's the strongest Elemental there is."

"Really?"

"He works for the Sanctuary on occasion, mainly doing work for the Survey Corps. That's the investigative unit. They investigate magic-related crimes." said Marco, sensing Eren's confusion. "He's kind of a big deal around here."

"Why are you with him?" Jean asked. He had a sour expression on his face. "What's so special about you? You don't even have any magic."

"Jean!" Marco chided. He looked annoyed now. "Stop being so rude!"

Before Jean could reply, they heard Eren's name being called. Levi was standing on the other side of the atrium and was impatiently waving for Eren to come over. Eren glanced at Marco and gave him a half-smile. "It was nice to meet you, Marco." He glanced at Jean then and made a face before turning and walking away. He could hear Jean swearing at him from behind, but he didn't turn back around.

Levi was waiting by a wall, with Petra at his side. He tapped his foot in a steady rhythm against the ground as Eren approached. "We're borrowing a Sanctuary car."

"Ah." Eren glanced at the keys hanging from Levi's slim fingers.

Petra led them away from the atrium, down several small corridors and passed many unmarked doors. Some of the doors looked fairly innocuous, but some had scorch marks or unidentifiable stains streaking across the wooden surface. Eren wondered what was behind them, but they passed them too quickly and he didn't get a chance to ask. They ended up emerging into a large area, and Eren had to blink a couple of times before he realised they were in an underground car park.

Petra said her goodbyes and returned the way they had come, and Eren hurried to follow Levi as he marched over to the only car in the parking lot. It was small and compact, and it was a very obnoxious shade of orange. Levi stared at it for a long moment before sighing. "I hate orange."

Eren had to admit, the car was possibly one of the ugliest things he had ever seen. "It's.. not too bad." He tried to lie.

One of Levi's eyes twitched. "Let's just get you home as fast as we can so no one can see me driving this piece of shit." He hissed, unlocking the car so they could both slide in. They were both silent as Levi drove out of the parking lot and through the city. Eren had a lot to say, but he was too caught up in his own thoughts to actually voice any of them. The journey was silent, both of them staring into the dark landscape out the windows.

When they finally pulled up to the house, exhaustion had settled heavily on Eren and he was finding it difficult to keep his eyes open. This didn't go unnoticed by Levi. "Get to bed, kid."

"No." Eren yawned stubbornly, shutting the car door behind him. "Not until you tell me what you were talking about with the Elders and Hanji."

The front door was leaning against the door frame, where Levi had left it. He knocked it over almost absent-mindedly, and they climbed over it to get into the house. "I will tell you." Levi promised, "But I'm not going to fucking repeat myself, so it'd be better if you're fully awake when I explain everything."

It took a bit more convincing before Eren finally agreed to this. Yawning, he tottered up the stairs, followed by Levi who had his hand cautiously reached out in case Eren lost his balance and toppled down the stairs. Eren turned around once they reached the landing and said "Stay here tonight."

Levi tensed visibly. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"I don't mean with _me_ ," Eren said quickly, his cheeks colouring. He didn't meet Levi's gaze, "I meant- there's a lot of spare guest rooms in this house. You could sleep in one of those."

"Eren.."

"Please?" Eren whispered, eyes round. He was still avoiding eye contact when he whispered "I don't want to be alone tonight. I don't think I'd be able to sleep, especially knowing that the front door isn't even on its hinges and there's nothing to stop anyone from coming into the house."

There was a long stretch of silence. Eren had begun to fidget from embarrassment, when Levi finally spoke. "Fine. Just tonight."

Eren let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me." Levi rolled his eyes. "I'm the one taking advantage of your hospitality here. Lead the way."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say thank you so much everyone for all your supportive messages, they're so lovely! I really hop you continue to enjoy the story!


	5. Chapter 5

The smell of food wafting up the stairs and into his room was definitely not what Eren had expected to wake up to. The sight of Levi cooking in his kitchen wearing a pair of Eren's old sweatpants and one of Eren's t-shirts (that both seemed to dwarf his body and make him seem even smaller) was equally unexpected. "Hey." Eren said after a minute of standing in the doorway watching Levi fuss over the pan on the stove. "You're cooking?"

Levi turned around, his expression carefully neutral. "Hm. I'm trying to. You don't have much here."

"Uh, yeah." Eren scratched at his back, "I mainly eat frozen pizzas and stuff." He could hear Levi muttering something at that, but didn't quite catch it as the man turned back to whatever he was making. "You didn't have to do this, you know."

"Yes, I did. I'm starving."

"Oh." Padding into the kitchen on bare feet, Eren peered over the top of Levi's head. "Whatcha making?"

"French toast. Sit down, you're in my way."

Eren did as he was told and sat down at the kitchen table. There were already two plates and two sets of cutlery set out. "How did you know where everything was?"

"I opened drawers 'til I found the shit I needed." Levi said shortly. They were silent for a while, until Levi finally served the French toast.

It was good. Eren had almost inhaled half of his before Levi had even picked up his fork, and he had to force himself to slow down. "So.."

"Shit, you can't even wait until after breakfast?" Levi sighed irritably. Eren was about to apologise, but Levi just shook his head. "Right. What is it?"

"I just wanted to know what it was that you said to Hanji and the old guys that you didn't want me to know."

There were a few moments of silence following his question where Levi sipped at the tea he had made and took a few bites of his breakfast. Then he put down his knife and fork and steepled his fingers together in front of his face. "You know, I'm still not sure how I feel about telling you all this shit. You ignore every single fucking thing I tell you about how dangerous this all is."

"I don't _ignore_ it." Eren protested immediately. He was annoyed that he was getting another lecture instead of a straight answer.

"That's even worse. That means you're acknowledging the danger and deciding you don't give a fuck. Jesus," Levi rubbed his face aggressively, "You're going to get yourself killed." He ignored the affronted noise made by Eren and kept talking before he could interrupt. "Hanji thinks I should tell you. I don't know why, but there's not much that Hanji ends up being wrong about, so I'm trusting her with this. But I want to make it clear; I don't think your involvement is a good idea."

Okay, that stung a little. Eren tried to hide the hurt he felt at Levi's words, but he was sure it showed through a little anyway. He had hoped, perhaps naïvely, that escaping the attack and visiting the Elders the night before might have convinced Levi that maybe Eren wouldn't be entirely useless to keep around. The exposure to the magic community in the Sanctuary had only strengthened Eren's desire to become more involved in magic - he felt as though he had belonged there, as stupid as that sounded. "But I-"

Levi cut Eren off, "Just listen for now. This stuff is kinda.. hard to believe, I guess." He paused then, a slight frown creasing his brow. After a brief moment of thought, he spoke again. "I'm not able to explain this as well as Hanji would, but.. Basically, there are gods."

"..gods?"

"Gods." Levi nodded a little in confirmation. "Not the good kind."

"Okay." said Eren, a little hesitantly. "So, like.. Greek gods or something?"

"No, nothing like that. Ever read any of HP Lovecraft's stories?"

"Yeah! Ages ago! I used to hate reading, but Armin got me loads of his books because he thought I might like them. Turns out I really like horror stories!"

"Do you remember anything about the Cthulhu stories?"

Eren hesitated, screwing his eyes up a little as he concentrated. "Not really." He confessed, "I just remember that he wrote a lot about monsters wanting to take over the earth."

"Not monsters," Levi corrected. He was leaning back in his chair, looking startlingly casual in Eren's oversized clothes, "Not technically gods either. Lovecraft became convinced that there was another race on Earth at one point, a race far superior to humans. Somehow, probably through practicing dark magic, these beings were expelled from Earth."

That was beginning to ring some bells with Eren, and he nodded seriously, "Right. Expelled to where?"

Levi shrugged, and the oversized t-shirt slipped off his shoulder. He made no move to right it, and Eren tried not to stare at the exposed pale skin - Levi was always so immaculately dressed that this made him seem indecent. "That's the question, I guess. No one fucking knows. Out of this dimension, anyway."

"Wait," Eren frowned, "so.. You're telling me they're real?"

"Yes." Levi cast him a look, raising his eyebrows slightly. "They're real."

Eren swallowed. "Um. Okay."

"The real name for them is in a language millennia old, and it was lost a long time ago. Now, we tend to call them Titans, after the big scary fuckers in Greek mythology." Levi took a sip of his tea, "There's a religion that worships them."

"Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack. Well, it's more of a cult than a religion, but still. They worship the Titans and want them to return here."

"Why would they want that?"

"How the fuck am I supposed to know? They're crazy." Levi waved a hand dismissively. "They've never really mattered much until recently."

"What happened recently?" Eren asked, his stomach sinking. He had a feeling he was really not going to like this answer.

"They sent people after you to kill you and steal something of importance."

Yep. That was definitely an answer he didn't like.

* * *

"You seem distracted." Mikasa said quietly, watching Eren over the rim of her coffee cup.

"Hm?" Eren glanced up from where he'd been staring intently at the table, and caught the concerned looks Armin and Mikasa were giving him. He gave them a guilty smile. "Uh, sorry. Guess I didn't sleep very well last night."

His friends didn't seem to believe him, but they didn't push either. Armin patted Eren's arm and said "If you need to talk, we're always here."

"I know." Eren covered Armin's hand with his own and squeezed it lightly. "Thanks guys."

It had been Eren's idea to get out of the house and go to a coffee shop in the town. He had been going stir-crazy cooped up in the old house with nothing to do but contemplate magic and scary ancient gods and cults that were after him. Armin and Mikasa had been delighted to hear from him, and had succeeded in drawing most of his attention away from all the crazy things occupying his head. It gave him a distinct sense of normalcy, and he found himself relaxing in the familiarity of Armin talking about the new book on mechanical physics he'd been reading. After a while, the conversation died down until they were left sitting in comfortable silence. None of them bothered to break it, familiar enough with each other that they could sink into their own thoughts without any mind for the others presence. Eren couldn't help thinking about Levi, and all the things he'd said the day before. He wanted to know more, but Levi had had to return to the Sanctuary to meet someone and had left in a hurry, and Eren had no way of contacting him now.

"Eren?" Armin was looking at him now, an expression of mild concern on his face. "Are you sure you're okay? You've been spacing out since we got here."

"Sorry." It was difficult to keep everything weighing on his mind to himself, but Eren was determined to keep his friends out of the mess he had found himself submerged in. Even so, he found himself wishing for Mikasa's strong confidence and Armin's calm knowledge to help him with understanding everything that was going on.

"It's okay." Armin said dubiously, glancing at Mikasa. "We just.. We are worried for you, you know."

Eren forced a smile. After a few moments, it became almost convincing. "I know. And I appreciate it so much. I'm dealing with it fine."

"Have you thought about maybe talking to someone?"

Eren made a face. "What, like a therapist? No, I really don't plan on doing that. I'm doing stuff to get my mind off things, I swear. It's not like I sit in the house wallowing in misery the whole time." _Trust me,_ he thought, _I've been really fucking distracted._ Even though they didn't seem fully convinced, Armin and Mikasa dropped it in favour of talking about more lighthearted things. Eren was so comfortable to be in their company again that it felt like his heart was singing, and they passed their afternoon together in a pleasant coffee-fuelled haze. 

Mikasa drove him back to the house after, but he insisted that she dropped him at the bottom of the lane. “I could do with the walk, the fresh air is good!” he grinned, praying that from this distance she couldn’t see that the front door was just leaning against the doorframe. 

“It’s only about 20 metres, Eren.” Mikasa frowned.

“Exactly! So there’s really no need to drive up, it’d just be a waste of time.” He gave her a one-armed hug and slapped Armin on the back, ignoring the looks of utter bewilderment they were giving him. “Thanks so much for spending time with me guys, I really enjoyed it.” Mikasa’s expression softened, losing the suspicious glint in her eyes. Eren could tell that she was attributing his odd behaviour to him still struggling from the loss of his father, and he felt a pang of honest regret and guilt at the way that he was lying to his friends. But as he watched them smile and wave and drive off down his path and out onto the road, he knew he’d never forgive himself if they ended up getting hurt because of him. 

Shaking off those thoughts, he turned and began marching to the house. The leafy cage created by the tall trees surrounding the property filtered the air murky and green, and the debris of decaying fallen leaves crunched beneath his feet. Despite the slight claustrophobic feeling the trees gave him, he could recognise that they were beautiful. The smell in the air was fresh and earthy, with a sweet undertone in the breeze from the delicate purple flowers dotted around under the trees. On days like this, he could see why his mother had fallen in love with the place. 

Once inside the house, however, with dark narrow halls and the creepy paintings staring down at him, he remembered why he _hadn’t_ fallen in love with the place. Sighing, he manoeuvred the door back into place before moving to the sitting room. He caught sight of himself in the mirror in the hall mid-movement and then paused, frowning. Something was off about his appearance. He squinted at his reflection for a moment, confused, and was about to shrug it off when his gaze dropped to his neck and it hit him - his bruises were gone. His neck was a clear and healthy brown colour where before it had been a mottled mess of green and blue, and the cut on his cheek had disappeared too. When had that happened? Had it healed without him noticing? His fingers traced the place on his neck where the hand-shaped bruises had been, and he frowned at himself in the mirror.

Before he could put any more thought into it, his phone started to ring. He sighed when he saw Mikasa’s caller ID, “Hello?”

_“Did you get home okay?”_

“Mikasa, it was literally a twenty metre walk!” Eren whined, turning away from his reflection and moving into the sitting room to fall on the couch. He had been under a lot of stress in the past few days, he was probably making something out of nothing. Maybe he had always healed fast. He laughed at a joke Mikasa made in her usual dry voice, the bruises already forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, look at me updating both my stories at the same time ?? what a high functioning author i am ??
> 
> ANYway, i would love to hear from you guys!! thoughts/critiques/predictions. anything really!!


	6. Chapter 6

After several days of no contact from Levi, Eren was quite startled to look out the window one morning and see the borrowed Orange Monstrosity trundling up his driveway. Levi was hunched over the wheel and even from a distance, Eren could see the look of disgruntled annoyance on his face.

Eren stepped out onto the porch just as Levi was stepping out of the car, and he grinned. "Hey! What are you doing here? Did something magic happen?"

Levi didn't respond until he had stepped up onto the porch beside him, then sighed and scrubbed a hand down his own face. "Tea."

Nodding, Eren led the way to the kitchen and raced around brewing the tea. Once Levi was seated at the kitchen table with the cup in his hand, Eren began bouncing on his toes. "So! What, was there a development with the evil ancient god cult? Did you find the key? Did Hanji-"

"Sweet Jesus, kid, relax for a fucking minute, would you?"

Scowling, Eren sank into a chair opposite Levi. He began tapping his fingers in a stilted rhythm against the tabletop, taking note of the way Levi's eyebrow twitched in obvious irritation. There was a long silence, during which Levi sipped his tea and Eren became increasingly agitated.

"Did you just come here for the tea?" He asked eventually, ignoring Levi's put-upon sigh.

"No." Levi murmured, putting the cup down and steepling his fingers together. "I think I found a lead."

A happy gasp escaped Eren before he could help himself "What kind of lead?"

"The kind of lead that came from the rigorous interrogation of our little friend who tried to kill you."

"Which one?"

"The first one."

"Ah." Eren nodded, bouncing a little on his chair. Unless he was very much mistaken, Levi was actually planning on including him in this little investigation. "So, what's the lead?"

Levi settled back in his chair. His frown was fixed firmly at the wall over Eren's head as he thought. "It seems that the same people who are after this mysterious key are after other items as well. We're going to try and get them first."

Oh, _this_ sounded exciting! "Awesome! What kind of items are we looking for here?" 

"Magical ones."

"What kind of magical ones? What do they do?"

"Well. We don't know yet."

Eren felt himself physically deflate. "Seriously? So we're looking for magic items without having any clue of what magic items we're actually looking for?"

"I'm a detective, I'll find clues." Levi said, sounding slightly miffed. "Besides, I already have one."

Eren twitched his nose, before sighing in defeat. He wasn't very good with mysteries - too impatient. "Okay, what is it?"

"We need to go to a morgue."

* * *

"This," Eren declared grandly, "sucks."  
He was gamely ignored by Levi, who stalked through the morgue like a very tiny grim reaper dressed in a mortician’s coat. It was comically large on him, and flapped around his ankles with every step he took. In all honesty, he looked like a child playing dress-up and Eren still couldn’t believe that they had managed to get passed the guards. The morgue was downstairs in the Shiganshina City Police Station, and Eren found himself honestly concerned about the quality of the officers they appeared to be hiring.

“What are we even looking for?” Eren whined, trailing after Levi and squinting suspiciously at the trays of medical tools.

Levi grunted, and pulled open one of the large refrigerated drawers. He ignored the way Eren scrunched his face up and looked away as the body was revealed, and said “I’ll let you know when I find it.”

Eren’s head snapped back around to stare at him in disbelief. “You don’t even know what we’re looking for, do you?” he huffed as Levi ignored him in favour of poking the corpse in the neck. “Don’t do that!”

Apparently dissatisfied with the corpse, Levi slammed the drawer shut and moved onto the next one. “Why don’t you make yourself useful instead of nagging?”

“Useful how? What, you want me to poke dead bodies with you?”

Scowling, Levi yanked open the next drawer with such force that the corpse nearly toppled onto the floor, “ _I_ am trying to get shit done!” he hissed, casting one look at dull grey skin and knotted blonde hair before slamming that drawer shut too. “You were the one who insisted on coming.”

“ _Actually_ , this time I didn’t even ask,” Eren pointed out smugly, “You brought me along by your own choice.”

Levi paused in the middle of pulling the next drawer out, his eyes narrowing as he thought back. He scowled when he realised Eren was right, but said nothing as he pulled the drawer out the whole way. “Ah.”

“What?” Eren was by his side in an instant, bright eyes surveying the corpse. He looked for whatever had caused Levi’s quiet exclamation, but he couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The corpse just looked… well, dead. “What did you see?”

“This is the one.” Levi murmured, distracted. He hushed Eren when he tried to speak again, and ran his fingers cautiously over the dead man’s throat. “Hand me a scalpel.”

Eren turned to look at him, aghast. “What? No way.”

“What?” Levi looked up, irritated. “What do you mean, no?”

“I’m not going to help you _cut open dead people_ , what the fuck Levi?”

“Why the fuck did you think we snuck into a _morgue_ dressed like _morticians_ , Jaeger? Did you think we were going to hold their hands and have a little chat?”

“You said _nothing_ about defiling-”

“We don’t have time for this goddamned nonsense, _hand me the fucking scalpel_.”

Fuming, Eren whirled on one foot and stormed over to one of the tool trays sitting on a metal countertop. He snatched up a scalpel and fantasised momentarily about throwing it at Levi’s head, before shoving the thought away and slamming it down on the slab next to the dead man’s arm. Levi pointedly ignored Eren’s little temper tantrum and picked up the scalpel, bringing the blade up to rest over the corpse’s Adam’s apple. Eren had to turn away as he began cutting, but even without the visual the _sound_ was nearly enough to make him gag. “I can’t believe you’re actually doing this.”

“Shut up.” Levi grunted, and Eren actually did gag at the sound of tearing flesh. “You’re the one who wanted to get involved in this shitstorm- a _ha_!” he cut himself off with a soft crow of victory, and Eren whirled around to see him pulling something out of an incision he had cut into the corpse’s throat (he struggled to avoid looking at that particular sight, stomach roiling).

“What is it?” he asked, shuffling closer to peer down at the object now in Levi’s hands. It was small and rounded, no bigger than a quarter and covered in black viscous liquid ( _ew_ ). 

“A clue.” Levi announced, marching towards the sink.

“You have no idea what it is.” Eren surmised, earning himself a black look as Levi began to wash the small object. After sterilising it no less than four times, Levi deemed it acceptable and turned to show Eren exactly what he had found; it was a teeny tiny golden beetle, with a beautiful ruby set in the middle. “Wow. It’s pretty.”

“It’s priceless.” Levi said absently, squinting at it thoughtfully. “I’ve seen pictures of this in books.”

“If it’s so important, what was it doing down some dead guy’s throat?”

Levi cast a cold eye on the body on the slab; it was male, probably around mid-thirties (though it was hard to tell thanks to the waxy quality of his skin), with no noticeable injuries or marks that might suggest a cause of death. Lank brown hair fell in greasy chunks around his head, and his mouth hung agape. “Looks like he really didn’t want anyone to find it, huh.”

Confused, Eren opened his mouth to ask what Levi meant when the sound of footsteps reached his ears. His head snapped around to stare at the door. “Hey, listen!” he hissed, eyes wide. “Someone’s coming!”

“Huh?” Levi glanced up from his examination of the gold beetle, frowning. “I don’t hear anything.”

“The footsteps! In the hall! How do you not hear them?” Eren hissed. 

There were a few seconds where Levi stared appraisingly at him that seemed to stretch for an endless, painful eternity. _Finally_ , he seemed to reach a decision, and threw the white sheet back over the corpse and threw the drawer shut, surprisingly silent. He moved so fast that Eren could barely keep track of him; he barely blinked before Levi was grabbing his arm and diving towards an air vent in the corner of the room. He flung out a hand and a gust of air ruffled Eren’s hair and popped the grate right off the wall. “Get in.” 

Eren scrambled into the vent without hesitation - disobeying Levi when a direct order had been given in that tone of voice seemed equal to suicide, although lying on his stomach in the cramped space was only marginally preferable to death by Levi. Once he was far enough inside the vent, Levi slid in after him and pulled the cover back on. Without a moment to lose, too; the grate had only just been secured on the wall when the door to the morgue opened. Levi peered through the gaps in the grate, but Eren’s view was obstructed by Levi’s dark head. “What’s happening?” he asked in a whisper, only to receive a boney elbow to the stomach and a hissed ‘ _shhh!_ ’. The person the footsteps belonged to was in the morgue now; Eren could hear them moving about the room, and then the sound of the refrigerated drawers being opened.

Cursing softly, Levi turned as much as he could in the cramped space and shoved at Eren’s shoulder. _Move_ , he mouthed. That was easier said than done, however - the vent was tiny, and turning on his stomach to face the other direction without making a sound seemed a near impossible feat. It wasn’t made any easier by Levi shoving at his shoulders. When he had finally managed to turn himself around, he started to wiggle his way further into the vent. The dust and dirt coating the metal he was dragging himself through began to stick to his clothes and hands, and his nose wrinkled as he went. Travel by vent was not the fastest way of movement, and he could feel the muscles in his shoulders and arms begin to burn. The further they went the darker it became, and Eren could feel his pulse speed up in the darkness. Behind him, he could hear Levi’s soft breathing; the only sound he was making. Eren wasn’t sure whether the reminder that someone else was with him in the small space made him feel better or worse.

After what seemed like hours, light began to filter through the air. Another vent came into sight up ahead, and Eren began dragging himself forward with a sense of renewed vigour. He barely even thought before he was drawing his fist back and punching out the grate, throwing himself out of the grate and landing in a heap on the ground. “I hate small spaces.” he groaned, taking a heaving breath of relief.

“Shit,” Levi sighed, glancing around, “This is the police chief’s office.”

“What?” Eren sat up sharply, taking in his surroundings for the first time. They had indeed fallen out of the vent and straight into a small, neat little office. It was clean and minimalistic, and not at all what Eren expected from the office of a police chief. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure.” Levi snapped, reaching to grab his arm, “Quick, get back in the-”

The door opened, and a large man stepped in holding several files. Levi and Eren froze, staring. The big man blinked back at them. There was a painfully long silence, until the man shut the door behind him and sighed. “Levi? Why are you here?”

“Ah. To speak to you.” Levi said after a brief pause. “Obviously.”

The man, who Eren presumed was the Police Chief, frowned at Levi before transferring his gaze to Eren. His eyes flicked over him curiously, tiredly, before he looked back to Levi and frowned again. “You’re covered in dirt.” he commented. Levi twitched, as if the reminder of his filthiness caused him physical pain. The Police Chief glanced to the wall, where the grate was still lying on the floor from when Eren had punched it out of place. “You came through the vent?”

“Didn’t want to sit in the waiting room.”

“You’re wearing lab coats.”

Levi nodded, then paused. He nodded again. “Yes. Anyway, I should get going. Just had a call from the Sanctuary, so.” he shrugged, and took Eren by the elbow to drag him out of the room. Surprised by the ease and casualness with which Levi had mentioned the Sanctuary in front of the Police Chief, Eren looked at the man closer even as Levi did his utmost best to force him out of the room without it looking as though he was doing so. Levi shoved him sharply in the shoulder, and then followed him out of the office and slammed the door of the office behind him.

“Are you friends with the Police Chief?” Eren asked curiously, resisting half-heartedly as Levi pushed him through the bullpen. Several officers turning to raise eyebrows at them, but averted their eyes quickly when Levi turned his glare on them.

“No.”

“But you know him?”

Levi grunted irritably, “Had a few run-ins with him when I was a kid. He’s alright.” They emerged into a reception area, and Levi tugged Eren over to the door, “Stop talking, get to the car.”

“I have so many questions!” Eren protested as he was shoved into the passenger seat of the Orange Monstrosity. “So many!”

Levi ignored him as he jumped into the driver’s seat. The engine roared to life, and Levi stepped hard on the gas as they tore out of the precinct parking lot. “Do you ever not?”

“Okay, so number one: why’s the beetle so important?”

Levi lifted one hand of the wheel to pat his jacket pocket, where the outline of the golden beetle protruded. “I told you, it’s a clue.”

“You genuinely don’t know what it does.” Eren side-eyed him suspiciously. “Okay, fine. Who was the person in the morgue? Did you know them?”

“No. After your previous two encounters with strangers, did you really want to stick around to see what they wanted?”

“But… how do you know they were looking for something? What if it was a real mortician?”

“It wasn’t.” Levi said firmly. “Magic leaves a trace; the man in the morgue was a mage.”

Eren turned fully in the car seat to face Levi, eyes wide. “Whoa. For real? Are you a mage too?”

“If that’s what you want to call it, sure.”

“Awesome.” Eren breathed, grinning. “So, how do you know he wasn’t the good kind of mage? Like, what if he was a good guy?”

“He wasn’t.”

Eren raised an eyebrow at the conviction in Levi’s voice, but let the matter rest. “So, where are we headed now?”

“Hanji's. Unless you want me to drop you home first?” Levi tilted his head. There was a tiny curve to his mouth, a hint of a smile, as though he had already predicted Eren’s answer.

“What? No way! You can’t get rid of me that easy, things are starting to get interesting!”

“Hn.” Levi kept his eyes on the road, but he looked faintly satisfied. He dug his phone out of his pocket and tossed it over to Eren, who barely managed to catch it before it smacked him in the face. “Call Hanji. Tell her we’re on the way, and we have something interesting for her to look at.”

“Got it.” Eren grinned. He settled into the seat comfortably, and got ready to dial Hanji. He had a feeling that whatever the little golden beetle was, it was going to make Hanji very, very excited.


	7. Chapter 7

“Wow.” Hanji murmured to herself, gazing at the little golden beetle. Her eyes appeared three times their usual size through the lenses of her magnifying goggles, lending her the appearance of a particularly excited owl. “It’s so beautiful! I’d say it’s at least five hundred years old, but the condition of the gold is exceptional!”

Levi grunted, watching Hanji closely from his place on her couch. He was spread out in a controlled sprawl, one arm across the back of the couch and his two legs relaxed in front of him. Beside him, Eren was tenser, and occasionally bobbed up and down in his seat in an attempt to dispel some of his excess energy. Every time he began bouncing his legs he earned himself a cutting look from Levi, which resulted in him stilling very quickly. After several more minutes of Hanji examining the beetle and cooing, Eren couldn’t stay quiet anymore. “So, do you know what it is?”

Hanji hummed, stroking the little gold wings. “No idea. A brooch, maybe? Where’d you find it?”

“Inside a dead man’s throat.” Levi said.

“Cool,” Hanji murmured distractedly, eyeing the beetle under a light on her desk. “Well. I’m pretty sure it’s a brooch, although the pin part of it seems to have broken off. There’s signs of stress around the edges. Maybe it was attached to something and got pulled off?”

Levi frowned, tracing his mouth with his thumb and forefinger. “A brooch.”

Eren looked back and forth between the two of them, confused. “Does anyone even wear brooches anymore, other than old ladies?”

Finally setting down the brooch, Hanji laughed as she pulled off her magnifying goggles. Her hair was in total disarray and stuck up in all directions, but she didn’t seem to notice as she slid on her glasses. “Not too often, I would think. But clearly someone felt this particular piece of jewellery was important enough to swallow in order to prevent anyone from finding it. They must have died almost immediately after though, for it to have been stuck in the oesophagus like that. Possibly they attempted to swallow it as they were dying and didn’t have enough time for it to pass into their stomach. Or,” Hanji shrugged then, looking thoughtful. “It may have been inserted into the throat post-mortem.”

“That’s disgusting,” Levi said half-heartedly, as though he hadn’t been the one slicing the dead guy up in the first place.

“Well, I’m afraid that’s all I can give you for the moment. Let me think on it.”

Levi sighed, but he didn’t appear overly surprised. “Sure. Anything else, while we’re here? Any more on the cult?” he asked. Eren stiffened slightly at the mention of the cult, gaze swinging between the two of them.

“I’ve managed to catch wind of two rumours, but I’m not sure if they have anything to do with the Titan cult. I’m not sure how useful they’ll be at all, really.”

“Continue,” Levi said calmly, ignoring Eren’s obvious disappointment.

“The first thing I heard was nonsense, really. Apparently, someone has been asking around about the Scepter.”

Levi’s brow furrowed, and his eyes narrowed. He was quiet for a long moment, before finally saying, “That’s ridiculous.”

“Hey, I did _say_ it was nonsense.” Hanji defended herself, shrugging. “I know, it’s weird right? Most everyone that I asked has just assumed it’s a joke.”

“Uh,” Eren interjected, blushing slightly as they both turned to look at him, “What’s this scepter thing?”

Hanji opened her mouth immediately, eyes flashing and prepared to launch into a tirade of explanation, but Levi cut her off before she could begin. “It’s nothing. A fairytale. What’s the other rumour?”

Pouting slightly at having been interrupted, Hanji flipped her ponytail back over her shoulder. “Several mages have been turning up dead, all corpses featuring the same form of post-mortem mutilation.”

Eren blinked at the words _”post-mortem mutilation”_ , startled, but Levi barely reacted at all except to say “And is that a rumour or a fact?”

“I haven’t seen the bodies myself, but I have seen photos. An incision, precise and deep, stretching from the base of the little finger to the base of the thumb across the palm of the right hand. It doesn’t mean anything to me right now, but I figured it was the kind of detail you would be searching for.”

“It is,” Levi confirmed thoughtfully, before standing. “Thanks.”

“Sure,” Hanji beamed, bouncing to her feet. “If I hear anything more, I’ll let you know.”

With a brief nod, Levi headed for the door. Eren hurried after him, waving a farewell over his shoulder as he followed Levi out of Hanji’s quarters and back into the library. The walk out of Hanji’s building was quiet; Levi was clearly deep in thought, and Eren was reluctant to interrupt him. Levi didn’t speak again until they were at the hideous orange car, when he leaned his elbow on the roof of the car and looked across at Eren with a serious expression. The effect was lessened slightly due to the fact that he was only just tall enough to see over the top. “This doesn’t add up.”

Eren nodded gravely. “I’m glad you think so too, because I am deeply confused.”

Snorting, Levi yanked open his door and climbed into the driver’s seat. He waited until Eren had clambered in beside him before saying, “It seems like this mystery is growing goddamn legs.”

“What’s up with the Scepter thing?” asked Eren, the curiosity finally getting the better of him.

“It’s nothing.” Levi said again, sliding a hand through his hair. “It’s a myth.”

“Someone is asking around about it though. It has to be something, right?”

“Probably some new mage who’s too gullible for his own good.” The car engine roared to life as Levi twisted the keys a little too forcefully than the situation demanded. “It’s a myth, like Santa or the Easter Bunny.”

Eren frowned as they pulled out of the car park, before asking, “So, what does the hand wound on the corpses mean?”

“No idea.”

“And the beetle?”

“It’s possibly the ugliest accessory I’ve ever seen in my life, but otherwise doesn’t seem to serve any particular purpose. I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing it, and I definitely wouldn’t stuff it down my throat in the throes of death.”

“Right.” Eren made a face, but agreed with Levi’s point. It was a particularly ugly brooch, even if it did appear to be made of solid gold. He frowned suddenly, a thought occurring to him.

“What?” Levi asked, catching sight of his expression.

“Oh, uh. It’s nothing. Probably nothing. I was just thinking, when we first found it, I thought it was really pretty.”

“When it was covered with congealed blood?”

“Ew, gross. When you washed it, I mean. When we saw it for the first time. It seemed… I dunno, it just seemed really beautiful. You even said it was priceless.”

Levi frowned consideringly. “It _is_ priceless, it’s a five hundred year old historical artefact made of solid gold with a ruby set in it. I’ve seen pictures of it, but no historian seems to really know what it’s for, and its purpose was never recorded.”

“Right,” Eren nodded, “But when you first saw it, when you washed it and everything, didn’t it seem really pretty?”

“I suppose so.” said Levi, although he didn’t sound particularly convinced. “What’s your point? You don’t think your opinion could have changed?”

Shrugging uncomfortably, Eren glanced out the window. He wasn’t even sure what point he was trying to make himself; it just struck him as sort of odd that his perception of the beetle could have changed so much in the few hours it had been in their possession. “Yeah, I guess.”

Sighing, Levi turned his full attention to driving. “Don’t think too much about it. This whole thing is complicated enough already.”

* * *

“Wow, Eren.” Mikasa murmured, gazing around. “You did a really good job.”

Eren felt himself puff up with pride, and beamed at his surroundings. Armin and Mikasa hadn’t been inside the house since the day they had first dropped him off (every time they had met up Mikasa had insisted on either hanging at their place or going to coffee shops in an attempt to get Eren out of the house), and so they were seeing Eren’s renovations for the first time. Armin had wandered off almost immediately to check out Eren’s dad’s book collection in his office upstairs, but Mikasa had gone for a brief walk around to have a look at Eren’s work. “Thanks! I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out, actually.”

Mikasa nodded as they walked from room to room. “It really is a lovely house, it desperately needed this work done on it.”

“It creeped me out, at first.” Eren confessed, “But I got rid of some of the weird old paintings, fixed rotting floorboards, re-painted some of the walls and stuff like that, and I think it’s made a big difference. Hey, you okay?”

Mikasa had stopped walking right in the middle of the living room, and was frowning deeply. “Eren,” she said, staring at the floor. “What are these holes?”

“What- oh.” Mikasa was pointing at the bullet holes that had torn up the floorboards the night he had been attacked and had met Levi. He had made an attempt to sand them down and make them appear less jagged and noticeable, but it hadn’t worked particularly well. The plan had been to buy a rug to cover them up, but it had completely slipped his mind. Mikasa was still looking at him expectedly, frown firmly in place and eyes concerned. He had a funny feeling that Mikasa knew exactly what bullet holes looked like. “Oh, that. Yeah. I’m gonna fix those.”

“But what _are_ they?” her voice had turned dangerous in the way that it always did when she suspected him of lying to her or attempting to avoid the truth.

Eren cast around desperately for a suitable excuse. “I dropped a hammer when I was working on the house and it went through the floor. Did some damage, might have to replace the floorboards. But yeah. Totally forgot about them.” he laughed nervously, attempting to alleviate the suspicion. It definitely did not work.

“How many times did you drop the hammer?” Mikasa narrowed her eyes, her tone making it exceptionally clear that she didn’t believe a word he was saying.

Eren grinned nervously. “Well, how many holes are there?”

“ _Eren!_ ”

“I’m gonna go check on Armin!” Eren practically yelled, turning and power-walking away. He didn’t think Mikasa would follow him; it was more likely she would do what she usually did and drop the matter for a while, before bringing it up suddenly in an unexpected moment and shocking a truthful answer out of him. He really hoped that wouldn’t happen. As he had expected, however, Mikasa didn’t follow him and he found Armin engrossed in a book in his father’s study. The books here were old, most bound by leather, and as he had found out in his first week or so at the house, most featured tales of horror and magic. They seemed uncharacteristic of his father, leading Eren to wonder if they had perhaps once belonged to his mother. He also wondered if the magic and stories depicted were true - it was a novel thought, that he was involved in a world considered fiction by so many. “Hey, Arm.”

Armin startled hard, having been so absorbed in his reading that he hadn’t heard Eren approach. “Jeez, Eren, you scared me.”

Grinning, Eren perched himself on the arm of the chair Armin had curled up in. “Whatcha reading?”

Armin hesitated, as though embarrassed, before holding the book up so Eren could see the cover and confessing, “It’s a book of myths and fairytales. It’s interesting.”

“Hm. You always liked that stuff.” Eren smiled and stretched, glancing down at the pages Armin had open. He stilled. The title of the page Armin was reading was ‘ _The Scepter of the Ancients_ ’. It… was unlikely that this was the Scepter thing that Levi and Hanji had been discussing. Although, Levi had dismissed it as a fairytale, as Armin had said. What were the chances that Armin had stumbled across this in a storybook only a few days after Eren had first heard mention of it? Forcing his tone to sound casual and disinterested, Eren said, “Scepter of the Ancients, huh? What are you reading about?”

“Oh,” Armin glanced down at the page. “It’s a legend. My grandfather used to tell me about it when I was young.”

“Yeah? It sounds kinda lame.” Eren admitted. Thinking of it as just ‘ _the sceptre_ ’ in his head had added a certain amount of mystery and intrigue to it. Now that it had a full cringey title it felt like something out of a bad fantasy movie.

Armin laughed a little and nodded. “Right? I used to think it sounded awesome. It’s a pretty weird story, I guess.”

“Tell me.” Eren smiled cheerfully, leaning comfortably against Armin’s shoulder.

He hesitated slightly, before smiling back. “Uh, sure. So, there’s this legend, right, that takes place years and years ago. There are these guys called Ancients, who are basically sorcerers who wield the power of the elements. They lived apart from the mortal world, because they had no interest in it - they had their own customs, their own towns, and worshipped their own gods. But eventually, they decided that they didn’t want to be ruled over by these gods anymore and so they rose up against them. They battled them on land, in the skies, and in the seas, but they lost practically every battle. They were battling gods, after all. So, the Ancients were forced to build a weapon - one powerful enough to hold them back. So they built the Scepter.”

“Okay.” Eren frowned. “So the Scepter is a weapon?”

“Pretty much. It had to be powerful enough to defeat gods, so they fuelled it with their desire to be free because that was the most powerful force they had at their disposal.”

“Awesome.” whispered Eren, a grin splitting his face. “How have I never heard this story before?”

Armin smiled nervously. “Eren, you never listened to these kinds of stories when we were small.”

“I guess. So what happened then?”

“They banished their gods, and forced them back to wherever they came from.” 

“Where did they come from?”

This time Armin’s nervous smile graduated into a laugh. “I don’t know, Eren. It’s only a story - but there are loads of stories about those particular gods. They were a particularly nasty bunch.”

“What, like cruel and oppressive?”

“I suppose.” Armin shrugged, “It’s not like it was ever specified why they were so terrible, just that they were awful. Tyrants, you know?”

“So what happened to the Scepter?”

“After the gods were gone, the Ancients realised they had no use for it. Without the gods there to dictate them, there was a rise in infighting and they began to turn the Scepter on each other and fueled it with hate. Soon there was only one Ancient left, and having realised he had driven his gods away and killed all his family and friends, hurled the Scepter deep into the Earth, and the ground swallowed it.”

“Where is it now? Still in the ground?”

Armin shot him an odd look. “It’s not real, Eren.”

“Wh- oh. Right.” he laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. “I know, I just got caught up in the story.”

“It’s kind of a sad ending,” Armin sighed, “But I guess most of the stories about the Titans have sad endings.”

Eren snapped his head around to stare at his friend so fast he almost broke his neck. “Stories about what?”

“Hm?” Armin glanced up from where he had been looking down at his book again. “Oh, Titans. The gods the Ancients banished? That’s what they were called.”

“Oh.” Eren said faintly, struggling to remember everything Levi had said about them. _Somehow, probably through practicing dark magic, these beings were expelled from Earth._. And yet, for some reason, Levi did not believe in the existence of the Scepter. “Well, uh. Thanks for the story, Arms.”

“That’s okay.” Armin smiled at him for a moment, but then his brow creased in worry. “Hey, you look kinda pale. Are you feeling okay?”

Eren forced a smile. “Yeah, I just haven’t eaten today. You hungry?”

“I could eat.” placing the book carefully back on the shelf, Armin followed Eren back downstairs to where Mikasa was waiting with a cup of green tea in the kitchen. His two friends struck up a conversation about how well the house looked but Eren tuned out almost instantly, thinking furiously. As soon as he saw Levi again, he planned on interrogating him about the Scepter, and the Ancients, and the Titans. Until then, he just had to be patient.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY it's been so long but i've been so busy with work and college! pls accept this chapter and don't hate me! not much is happening right now, but soon ,,,, soon,,,


	8. Chapter 8

Contrary to Eren’s expectations, Levi did not return for him. The next few weeks were spent drifting around the old house, sulking and doing small repairs in equal measure unless Armin and Mikasa decided to show up and drag him out to the real world. On the positive side, there was a massive improvement with the physical appearance of the house; it looked significantly less haunted/abandoned and significantly more like a rustic woodland home. He had taken down pretty much all of the gothic religious paintings, polishing the wooden walls so that the new bare spaces were glossy and healthy looking. He had torn up the ugly old carpet in his father’s study and laid down a plush new fluffy one. He had even replaced some of the windows - there was nothing wrong with any of them, but he was just so _bored_ and waiting for Levi was driving him out of his goddamn mind.

 

Whenever he thought about Levi, he inevitably thought about how Levi was probably off doing some super cool magic detective work. Probably being a badass and throwing magic fireballs around and just being an all-round awesome person. Those thoughts then steadily, inescapably spiralled in the direction of his insecurity about his abandonment - he thought they had been getting on well. They had discovered a mysterious beetle thing, they had - Well. Admittedly that was the only thing of note they had found so far, but Eren still felt like they had been doing good work! Granted, Levi did most of the work and left Eren sitting outside most of the time. Eren was beginning to feel like perhaps he had been more of a burden on Levi’s investigation than he had initially suspected. Having had all this time alone to think, he couldn’t help but wonder if Levi had just allowed him to tag alone out of convenience; after all, Eren had been the victim of not one, but _two_ attacks regarding some mysterious key. If Levi was a detective, wouldn’t it make sense for him to be trying to keep a key witness close?

 

The more Eren thought about things, the more confused he became. He wasn’t a stupid person, he knew that, but he also wasn’t the smartest. Things either came to him instinctually or very, very slowly. He wasn’t really cut out to be in the whole magic mystery business, no matter how much he wanted to be. Maybe that was why Levi hadn’t returned - was he slowing the entire investigation down? It was the only reason Eren could think of that Levi would drop him home from Hanji’s after their discovery of the beetle brooch and then simply disappear. Eren wondered absently if he had been kidnapped, then reproached himself severely in his head for thinking such a thing. 

 

Almost three and a half weeks after the discovery of the beetle and Eren’s subsequent abandonment, Eren was working on the outside porch. It had been an unusually windy night, and that morning he had woken to find a massive branch had fallen and caused significant damage to the wooden beams. He supposed it wasn’t altogether too surprising considering the sheer size and amount of trees surrounding the house - it really was only a matter of time before something like that happened. Even so, it was an unwelcome surprise given how well all the other repairs and renovations were coming along. He had texted Armin and Mikasa to cancel their plans for the day, explaining that he would prefer to fix the damage now and that he’d catch up with them another time, and then he got to work. Despite the bad weather the night before, the day dawned bright and clear. By the time it reached midday, it was hot and muggy. Eren had downed six glasses of water in a row, but rather than cool him down the water seemed to increase his sweat output. He ended up stripping his shirt off and throwing it at the wall of the house in sheer frustration and heat-filled rage at one stage, before forcing himself to calm down and returning his attention to the damaged porch.

 

It was almost one in the afternoon when he heard the rumbling of an engine; having been so engrossed in his work, he didn’t hear it until the car was halfway up the drive. Assuming it was Mikasa and Armin and they hadn’t gotten his texts, Eren didn’t turn around immediately. He put his tools down, stood and stretched, and then turned - and then almost fell over out of shock. “Levi!”

 

“Eren.” Levi raised an eyebrow at him as he closed his car door behind him. He looked… _good_ , although admittedly Eren couldn’t recall a time in their acquaintanceship that he had looked bad. His dark hair was neatly parted, and he was wearing a light white shirt tucked into grey form-fitting slacks. “Bad time?”

 

“Wh- no! No, I was just, uh.” Eren gestured weakly at the porch. “Doing some repairs. What are you doing here?”

 

Levi’s brows inched even higher. “Was I incorrect in assuming you wanted to be apart of the investigation?”

 

“No, of course not! But..” all the thoughts he’d had during his time of isolation were admittedly difficult to dismiss. “I didn’t think I was much help.”

 

“You weren’t.” Levi said bluntly. “I’m not dragging you around with me because you can help. I’m bringing you because you said you wanted to come. If you’ve changed your mind, fine.”

 

“I haven’t!” Eren said hastily, taking a few steps forward as if to try and stop Levi from leaving. “I just don’t understand why you’re willing to have me along with you.”

 

Scowling, Levi pushed his hair to the side. The heat of the day was affecting him too; his forehead was damp with perspiration. “I need someone around to laugh at my jokes and carry my stuff.” he said, before scrunching his nose up and saying, “Besides, the company isn’t the _worst_ , I suppose.”

 _Adorable_ , thought Eren, before grinning. “What a glowing compliment.”

 

“It’s not the best either.” Levi said quickly, scowl intensifying. “I’d rate it as mediocre.”

 

Unable to help himself, Eren laughed. Despite Levi’s brusqueness, his general awkwardness had succeeded in alleviated some of Eren’s concerns regarding his usefulness. He wasn’t even angry, really; he had kind of missed him. “Well, what can my mediocre presence assist you with today?”

 

Any hint of playfulness leached out of Levi’s form until he was standing straight and serious. His eyes narrowed further. “Actually, this is about those items we were talking about before.”

 

Eren stared at him, black-faced. “Items?”

 

Levi rolled his eyes so hard it looked like he might actually hurt himself. “The Titan cult are looking for specific magical objects. There have been rumours that Hanji has heard through the grapevine, and I think I have a pretty good idea of the object we’re looking for.”

 

“Right,” Eren said uncertainly. “What do they want them for?”

 

Levi’s expression was inscrutable. “We don’t know.”

 

He was lying. Of that, Eren was fairly certain, although he chose not to push for answers. He was sure Levi would tell him when he was ready. “Okay,” he said, slightly hesitantly. There was a difference between trusting Levi to eventually tell him the truth and following along blindly until that point, but blind faith was something Eren had always been pretty good at. “What’s the plan, then?”

* * *

The plan soon found them standing outside the Municipal Art Gallery in the neighbouring town. It was a fairly innocuous looking building, all grey stone and arched windows. There were a few tourists milling around the place with their cameras in hand, and some artsy-looking students with sketch pads and oversized glasses taking notes on various paintings. 

 

“Ever been here before?” Levi asked as they maneuvered their way around a pair of bickering art students that were brandishing their pencils at each other like swords.

 

Something about Levi’s tone of voice had Eren squinting at the back of his head, hesitating before answering. He had gotten used to Levi’s own form of awkward earnestness, and hadn’t realised how that behaviour had become so familiar to him until he noticed Levi’s stiffness. For all that Levi’s emotions and thoughts were difficult to read, the man was terrible at dishonesty. “Levi, what’s going on?”

 

For a moment, Eren was sure Levi was going to brush him off and continue his striding pace further into the art gallery, but then the moment passed and Levi was turning to face him with a sigh. “I was doing some research, and this place came up in relation to your father’s name.”

 

It was not what Eren had expected at all, and it took him a few moments to catch up with what had been said. “My… dad? Uh.. I don’t think he liked art.”

 

Levi closed his eyes and tipped his head back slightly, as though praying for patience. “That’s not what I meant, Eren. Look, does any of this feel familiar at all? Did he ever bring you here?”

 

“No.” Eren frowned, before glancing around. The walls were eggshell blue, the floors a gleaming dark wood - the paintings that hung daintily on the walls seemed coincidental. It all looked utterly unfamiliar. “I’ve never been here.” 

 

Levi stared hard at him for another long moment, before accepting his word with a nod. “Come on then,” he said, beckoning Eren forward, “Through here.” They walked through a large display of abstract sculpture, through to a very small alcove displaying three massive oil paintings. Two paintings displayed nineteenth century nurses attending to what appeared to be smallpox victims; the third painting, displayed proudly in the middle of the wall, was a full-sized painting of a door. The paintings were large enough to take up the entirety of the alcove - there was barely a sliver of wall to be seen, as the frames all touched each other.

 

Eren eyed the painting of the door distrustfully - it seemed rather obviously out of place amongst the old paintings of the nurses. “You brought me here to see a painting of a door?” he asked dubiously.

 

“Haven’t you learned anything yet?” Levi sighed, “Stop trusting appearances.” He reached out his hand and brushed his fingers against the painting.

 

“Uh,” Eren glanced over his shoulder, and pointed uncertainly at the large _PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH THE ART WORKS_ sign that was displayed prominently on the far wall. “I’m not sure you’re allowed to touch-” his words failed him as soon as he looked back to Levi and caught sight of him running his fingers along the door handle in the painting; Levi caught his eye and smirked, before gripping the door handle and _pushing it_. Eren’s mouth hung open as the door in the painting swung inwards, revealing an empty corridor with white floors and walls.

 

Levi stepped forwards and, _impossibly_ , stepped into the corridor beyond the painting. He turned back and raised an eyebrow at Eren, half mocking. “Coming?”

 

“Holy shit.” Eren whispered. He had a feeling his mouth was still hanging open when he stepped forwards after Levi and _walked straight into the painting_ , but he really didn’t think he could be blamed for that. A quick glance behind him showed the small alcove they had just been standing in but it seemed as though he was viewing it from a distance, as though he was looking through a window.

 

“Come on, before someone sees.” Levi murmured, nudging him in the ribs with a pointy elbow. Eren winced and scowled, but followed after Levi as he set off down the hall out of sight of any potential viewers from the gallery. The white walls and floors were pristine, almost sterile in their presentation. Eren half-expected to smell cleaning products of some kind, but the absence of any scent was notable, as was the absence of any sound but the noise of their footsteps echoing on the white tile floors.

 

“What is this?” Eren whispered to Levi. As soon as the words left him he felt immensely foolish for having whispered them, but the idea of interrupting the sterile silence was enough to make him almost physically recoil.

 

“The Facility.” Levi murmured back; Eren couldn’t help but notice that he purposely kept his tone low and unobtrusive as well. “You’ll see in a minute.”

 

Eren opened his mouth fully ready to argue that Levi should just tell him _now_ , but he closed it with a click when he noticed the door at the end of the corridor that Levi was marching towards. He hadn’t noticed it a moment ago. When they reached the bottom of the hall Levi tugged the door open with little ceremony and nudged Eren inside, who shuffled forward with a hesitant mix of reluctance and curiosity. Beyond the door was somewhat of a surprise in its normalcy - it appeared to be nothing more than a doctor’s surgery. Blinking, Eren surveyed the collection of medical tools, disposable gloves, and medical forms that were spread over the desk in the far corner of the room, the metal examination table in the centre of the floor, and yet another door on the left that seemed to lead out into another hallway. Eyes straying back to the examination table, Eren’s brow furrowed; the sight of it triggered a sort of emotional aversion within him, though he couldn’t pinpoint why. It was a faintly discomfiting sensation.

 

“It’s a medical facility,” Levi’s voice interrupted his thoughts. He was leaning against the doorway, watching Eren intently. “I don’t know what unimaginative fuck came up with the name of the place, but it was used as a sort of magical hospital. Practitioners of healing magic studied and worked here, all with the aim of treating magic-related maladies, injuries, and diseases.”

 

“What happened?” asked Eren, not missing Levi’s use of the past tense. There was a thin layer of dust on top of most of the room, indicating the lack of use.

 

Levi was silent for a long moment, his gaze focused on the back of Eren’s head as he wandered around the room, peering curiously at the medical instruments on the desk. “Your father died.”

 

It took a moment for Eren to realise that Levi’s words were in response to his question rather than a non sequitur. Interest in the room’s contents abruptly lost, Eren turned sharply to give Levi his full attention. “What?”

 

Now that Eren was looking at him directly and with all his energy focused on him, he noticed for the first time just how exhausted Levi looked; the dark circles under his eyes were dark enough to be bruises, and his pallor was paler than usual. His shoulders were even slightly slumped where he was leaning against the doorframe, a far cry from his usual poise and stiff posture. “Your father,” he inhaled, “was a healer here. In fact, this was his practice. The Facility was under his ownership. After he passed, this place shut down.”

 

“Why?” Eren asked. He felt numb.

 

“The Facility must have a living owner.”

 

Eren nodded, slowly. His brain felt like it was screaming out for help, but he pointedly ignored that. In a way, he guessed, he wasn’t as surprised as he felt he should be. That his dad not only knew about this strange magic world he had accidentally found himself a part of, but actively _practiced_ magic, made a twisted sort of sense. All the nights when Grisha would come home late (or not at all), claiming he got tied up in work or caught in traffic even though the local medical practice was only a few blocks over. Eren couldn’t help but wonder, though he desperately tried to keep the intrusive thought out of his head, if maybe that was why Grisha had become so cold towards him - surely it must have been difficult to return from such a strange and fantastical magical world only to find a painfully ordinary son waiting at home, evidence of his fights at school left all over his face.

 

“Eren,” once more, Levi’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. This time, his hand wrapped around Eren’s elbow too; not pulling or pushing, just holding. A gentle pressure, a reminder that he was still here to ground him. “It’s a lot to take in. I should have worded that better.”

 

“It’s fine.” his voice cracked, and Eren cursed himself for it. “I just, um. So. My dad was magic.”

 

Levi peered up at him for a long moment, his grey eyes assessing. “Yeah.” he said eventually, “Apparently, he was one of the best healers around.”

 

Eren grunted in acknowledgement - he wasn’t sure if he was quite able to manage anything more. His eyes drifted towards the desk once more, although he viewed it in an entirely new light; was that his dad’s desk? Judging by the clutter, it very well could be. His dad had never been particularly good at organisation, a trait which had rather unfortunately been inherited by Eren. He had thought that he had been slowly coming to terms with his father’s death, but this whole revelation had thrown up a whole storm of emotions; not least grief and anger. He took a few minutes to compose himself. Levi waited patiently behind him, his steady presence reassuring and silent. When Eren spoke, his voice sounded thicker than he’d have liked, “Why did you bring me here?”

 

“I wanted to know what you wanted to do with it.”

 

“Huh?” the sound came out like a confused grunt, making Eren feel like a total idiot. Thankfully, Levi chose not to comment.

 

“The Facility needs a living owner.” he repeated. “Here you are.”

 

Bewildered, Eren frowned, “What are you talking about?”

 

“Look around, the place recognises you.” Levi looked pointedly at the surface of the desk; when Eren followed his gaze, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Frown deepening, he opened his mouth to point this out when he noticed something. It was a difference so small that he almost brushed it aside, but once he had seen it, it appeared so obvious. 

 

“The dust is gone?” it came out awkwardly phrased as a question, because despite what his eyes were telling him Eren didn’t feel totally confident in his powers of observation. 

 

“You have the same blood as your father.” Levi said conversationally, swiping a finger over the examination table and holding it up when it came away perfectly clean. “The Facility recognises its new owner and is now working to prepare itself for use. I wish my place did this.” The last part was added in an undertone that Eren wasn’t sure he was meant to hear.

 

“I’m not a magic doctor though.” Eren pointed out, confused.

 

“You’re not.” Levi confirmed with a sombre nod; his serious expression was ruined by the way his mouth was twitching as though he were trying to hold back laughter. “But you’re Doctor Jaeger’s son, regardless. The Facility is yours to do with as you like.”

 

Eren glanced around at the pristine walls and gleaming floors, “I… I really don’t know what to do with it.”

 

“No ideas at all?”

 

“No.” Eren confessed, a little embarrassed. Had he let Levi down by failing to come up with a use for the place? He didn’t see how he could be expected to come up with a satisfactory answer though; he had never even seen the place, and even if he had he lacked any practical knowledge or insight. He was immensely relieved when Levi cracked half a smile, clearly amused at his internal struggle.

 

“If it’s not too much, I might have a suggestion for you.”

 

“Yeah, sure!” Eren nodded quickly, trying not to appear too eager for a way out but probably failing.

 

“Revert it to its original use.” Levi stepped around the examination table, stopping by Eren’s side and tilting his head slightly to look into his eyes. “A proper medical facility has been sorely missed around these parts for the past half a year.”

 

“Would I have to run it?” he asked apprehensively.

 

Levi snorted, “What, too much effort? I thought you wanted to be involved in the magical world.” he waved his hand quickly when Eren’s mouth opened indignantly, “Relax, I’m teasing. No, you wouldn’t have to run it. You can appoint someone in charge - the Facility still recognises you as the owner, but will run under the command of whomever you appoint.”

 

“That sounds… fine.” Eren nodded, “How would I know who to appoint?”

 

Levi shrugged one shoulder, “Like I said, this place has been missed these past months. There were medical practitioners and students that had nowhere to go once your dad died and this place shut down. Most have been practicing and studying from their own homes, but resources are fairly lacking. You remember the Administrator from the Sanctuary?”

 

It took Eren a moment to dredge up the memory of the Administrator, a petite woman with strawberry blonde hair and a sweet smile. “Petra, right?”

 

“Petra.” Levi confirmed. “She was a Healer here before the place shut down. She has the administrative experience in the Sanctuary. I’d say she’d be a good bet, but I’m not making your decisions for you.”

 

Eren nodded slowly, turning to take one final look around the room. From where he was standing, he could see now that the second door led out into a corridor which branched off into different rooms. The only room he could clearly see had a plaque over the entryway reading **WARD ONE**. He could still feel Levi’s gaze on the side of his face, but he tried his best to ignore it. The day had turned out vastly different than he had been imagining; when Levi had first arrived, he had been expecting them to rush off into an adventure involving mystery and intrigue and the race to find special magical objects. Finding out that he apparently owned a big abandoned semi-sentient medical facility was mildly disturbing and had not been on his list of expectations. Levi’s concerns rang pretty true, too; if it was the only magical medical centre around, it would be fairly concerning if it remained permanently shut down. He agreed with Levi’s choice, too - Petra seemed lovely and caring when he had spoken to her before, he could imagine her as a doctor. She’d be a good one, he’d bet. He appreciated as well that Levi didn’t attempt to coerce or persuade him into making a decision either way, choosing instead to lay out the facts and allow Eren to make his own choice. “Okay.”

 

“Okay?” Levi raised a brow.

 

“Yeah,” Eren said more confidently. “We’ll open the place back up.”

 

Levi didn’t outwardly react, although Eren felt as though he seemed pleased. “Right then. We’d better head to the Sanctuary.”

 

“Sanctuary?”

 

“Magic people still have to do paperwork, Eren.” Levi said grimly, clapping Eren on the back and ignoring his dramatic groan as they headed back out the way they had come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just want to say thank you so much to everyone who left feedback, you're honestly the main reason i keep writing! i hope everyone enjoys this chapter!


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